


The Run

by FellfinaFalls



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alien Cultural Differences, Alien Technology, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Dystopia, F/M, Gen, young adult
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-10-14 14:23:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 47,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10538322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FellfinaFalls/pseuds/FellfinaFalls
Summary: Chapter Fourteen & Fifteen Up 7/24/17Eighteen-year-old Evelyn Reed lives in a world where humans are no longer in control. The Selk run the government, daily life, and healthcare. Burdened by headaches her entire life and mourning the death of her mother, she tries to find the joys in family and friends, as well as her Selk boyfriend, Lakhar Mason. That is until their leader dies and the Run begins. Ten Selk are chosen, but only one can be ruler.When Lakhar is chosen, Evelyn joins him on the journey, knowing that she won't be able to finish with him as humans aren't allowed inside the castle walls. Not only that, there's a traitorous Selk on the run from the law that has a past with Lakhar that's lurking in the kingdom during the Run. As they journey toward the castle, Evelyn learns a lot about Lakhar, the secrets of the Selk people, and the mysteries of herself.Note: tags will be updated with each chapter so that no spoilers are accidentally revealed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first novel I've ever completed. I'll be posting a chapter every week. And feedback is much appreciated!

 

Chapter One

  
“They have three eyes.”

The words drew my attention away from the store fronts that were slowly passing by as we glided through the traffic. I glanced over at my older brother, whose eyes kept focused on the road. We were on our way to classes. I’d have an hour before my classes when he was already running late for his.

“It’s not like they use it. Maybe evolution for them changed that. Vestigial,” I said, drawing my coat more tightly around me. I wasn’t feeling that great today. Doctor’s appointment this afternoon, I reminded myself. But my brother’s constant stop-and-go driving due to the traffic wasn’t doing me any favors. Neither was the dreary weather that threatened rain.

“It’s just… they only open them maybe three times in their life. What’s the point of having them at all?”

He was talking about the Selks. The people who lived among us and looked almost just like us. Almost.

They came out of nowhere a little after the turn of the last millennium under the guise that they were a small group of fifty that needed Sanctuary. They offered us technology and information in return to live among us. They never told us what they were running from or why they chose us as their hiding place. They never told us anything about how they knew our language or seemed to take in our culture quickly. We were never allowed to learn anything about them, and our ancestors seemed just fine with that.

The small group stayed for fifty years and we got use to the small group of aliens that made themselves home on our planet. They had all been treated like celebrities--gods, despite the fear that surrounded them at first, we welcomed them happily. They were more intelligent than we were and they helped us end our strifes. They could explain things to our leaders and make them understand. They set our planet toward it's first real peace that it had ever experienced.

It turned out they were actually only the first group to arrive. They wanted to observe us and learn about us before they mothership came and took over. They were there to get information on the planet's dominate species and make things easier for the arrival of the rest. Our ancestors fought them at first, but the Selk had power we didn’t and their weapons were stronger, and after a few wars and a few million of casualties, we gave up and let them have us. They promised to rule us fairly and make sure that we had everything that we needed and when your populations are dwindling by the thousands every day and theirs by the dozens, it was just easier to give in and let them have what they wanted if it meant they stopped destroying you.

Generations later, obviously, some humans are still sore about it, but it’s just normal now. Well, normal in that Anti-Selk protesters are seen, but they’re hardly given any attention. Being Anti-Selk is dangerous. It's an arrestable offense and it carries a heavy prison sentence if you're found guilty, which most people are. It's caused most Anti-Selk revolutionaries to move underground with their efforts, but you still get the overzealous people who scream in the streets.

And yes, they did have a third eye, but humans almost never saw it open. When it was closed, it was almost as if it weren’t there. Apparently, it only opened a few times, when they’re born for a few days, before they die, and when they glow. The latter almost never happened, it only happened when they were ready to select their rulers--our rulers.  
They’re also inhumanly beautiful. All of them. Even the scarred and sick ones. They have an ethereal glow about their skin. A lot of them become movie stars. Never rocks stars, though. One thing a Selk can’t do is sing. Their voices sounded like the hum of a sweet song, but the moment they tried to harmonize, humans feel sick. Selk poetry is some of the best ever performed, however.

“Have you ever asked Lakhar about his eye?” Micah asked coolly.

“No,” I answered, clearing my throat. “Why would I?”

He gripped the steering wheel tightly, spying a roadblock ahead. They were checking identification. Must’ve not been road work after all. A random check today? Surely no one was dumb enough to be around without their ID or to be smuggling into a campus on a Tuesday morning.

“Alls I’m saying is that there is a lot of misinformation out there, Evie. Not everyone has a Selk boyfriend they can talk to about thi—”

“We don't talk about that kind of thing,” I interrupted reaching into purse to pull out my ID bracelet that everyone was required to wear. I probably shouldn’t take it off as often as I do, it’s a pain to replace. “Don’t you start on me too.”

Lakhar Mason and I had been dating now for two years, we met in high school two years before we started dating, once he moved to the area from another kingdom. I had been assigned to show him around. And I was immediately interested in him. He was gorgeous, after all. Messy hair, dark eyes, and shining vanilla skin. In my days dreams, he proposed to me and we moved into a house together. We finished our degrees and started our lives together.

But marriage hadn't come up between us yet. We still had a lot to do before we were ready for something more serious despite what my imagined longed for.

Selks and Humans couldn’t breed with each other, so it wasn’t exactly in the best interest of either species to marry. I mean, of course there were happy mixed-species marriages out there that were either childless or had adopted, but biological children were the thing of legend. And not good legend either. They were called Monsters and awful stories were told about the creatures that were spawned of human and Selk.

They were always described as deformed, pitiful creatures, neither human nor Selk. They were brutish and dangerous. There had been many stories that years ago, back during the wars, the human side had created a small batch of Monsters. They had captured an enemy Selk, a female, and somehow managed to create a hybrid. If you believe the story, the Monsters grew at an accelerated rate and killed their masters before they were killed themselves.

It all seemed like bologna to me. I don't think they ever existed.

“Good morning, identification please,” a tall, uniformed Selk man’s voice sang. Micah grabbed my wrist and thrust both of our arms at the officer. My arm brushed against Micah’s short, dirty blonde beard in the process. While the officer scanned our bracelet with his own, my attention was drawn the officers, Selk and Human, shining lights into our vehicle.

“What are you guys looking for?” Micah asked, looking at the Kingdom officers surrounding our car with a circle of navy uniforms. The uniforms changed colors depending upon the weather for better camouflage, the navy matched the drizzle. The bright green reflective vests helped them stand out to the citizens and to keep them safe.

I caught sight of Micah’s frazzled brown eyes and wondered if he had something hidden in the car that he didn’t want discovered or if he was more worried about being late for the exam that he had mentioned this morning. He wasn't doing well in his classes. He never did well in his classes, it was surprise he had made it into a university at all. But he had applied and miraculously made it in.

The Selk shrugged. “A prisoner escaped during transportation,” he muttered. “Selk. Six feet, blue hair, tattooed, approximate age of twenty-one.” He nodded at our bracelets. “A Wanted poster has been sent to every citizen of Elrad via the News Channel on your bracelet.”

I pulled up the poster on my bracelet, the car’s dashboard lighting up with the picture of a young Selk. He had an overly blue Mohawk that slumped over to one side and fell to his side, his hair was longer than the picture's showed. He was pale, his face looked almost waxy. He looked ill. Which was strange to me. You never saw an ill Selk. His face looked hard but still held the beauty that all Selk had.

“Thank you for your time, Micah and Evelyn Reed,” the officer said, stepping back from the vehicle and waving us through into the campus.

“What does it say he did?” Micah asked, attempting to be nonchalant, but failing. The nervous was dripping from his voice as he tried not to speed to campus.

“Traitor from the next kingdom, Raska,” I muttered, eyes focused on the Selk’s forehead. He had a tattoo of an eye in the center, a diamond shaped pupil that matched the others in his eyes. Raska allowed tattoos? Probably not. They were all over this guy, snaking over the sides of his head like black flames. “Nothing else. I guess he’s dangerous enough if they’re setting up a perimeter. It doesn’t report that he’s armed.”

Micah took the flyer from me and looked at the face of the criminal. “Phyre Collins,” he muttered. “He looks… interesting. He's from the same kingdom that Lakhar came from, right?”

“Yeah, that's where Lakhar came from. But I doubt they ran in the same crowd." Lakhar was very pristine in his appearance. He stuck to basic fashions that were government approved and all of his clothes were made from the approved synthetics. Phyre was wearing a leather jacket in his photo. I couldn't imagine them knowing each other.

"It says ‘traitor’, but there’s so many ways to be considered a traitor, I have no idea what he could’ve done,” I said. I eyed the Selky writing on the poster, but glanced away. Humans weren’t allowed to learn Selky, so the beautifully cursive writing that Selks used was beyond comprehension for me. I tapped my bracelet and ended the image. “If you want to get technical, littering is a traitorous act against the kingdom.”

Micah snorted. “I don’t think this guy littered, look at him. And I don’t think that he’s going to be on the campus or in the Selk district Downtown."

Elrad wasn't the biggest kingdom in the nation. It was actually rather small. The Downtown area was mainly Selk-controlled. From Elm Street to 1st Avenue, everything there was Selk central. The buildings were distinctively made by human hand, but had been decorated to reflect the Selks that dwelled within them. High-rises and office buildings that were there to do who knew what. The businesses that were there were all private and all Selk. Humans were allowed in the area to work, but it was almost unheard of for one to actually live there.

A huge portion of the buildings were actually Governmental. All the government agencies that included humans had a building that surrounded the castle.

The precise center of the kingdom was the castle, but humans weren't allowed inside of the walls. There was a forcefield that surrounded the huge building and only Selks were allowed to slip through the barrier. Humans had tried before to make it through, but touching the forcefield did nothing but distort reality for the human that tried and force them back. Too many attempts could resort in permanent brain damage to the human.

"There’s much better places to hide in the forest. If he's smart, he'll have a few days of freedom before he's caught again.”

I glanced out the window. In the distance was a foggy haze of trees that bordered the kingdom. They ran along the massive river that fed into the capital and kept the kingdoms carefully separated. Yeah, a much better place to hide than in the random building that made the campus. The trees would provide for you.

The forests had been a gift when the Selks had taken over. They healed the planet, terra-formed the lands, and brought back the green to the massively barren lands. They were types of trees that our ancestors had never before seen, growing fruits that the Selks passed along to us to keep us fed and cared for. That's why they had wanted our planet, at any rate. We were an agricultural world for them. Our major export was food for the Selk race and we had plenty. When it wasn’t harvest season, which it wasn’t, someone could hide in there for months. This guy would just have to be sneaky enough to not get caught.


	2. Chapter 2

I arrived to class a few minutes early and sat outside the class room. The previous class still hadn’t been released and so I took the opportunity to pull out my digital-paper, a piece of paper that was easily carried to bring forth any written media, to continue the novel that I was reading. A dirty rag to keep my mind off of the ancient literature class that I didn’t do the reading for. I didn’t really want to read Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, I just had to be ready to use them in a discussion on the society that would look up to such… magical works and how the reflected the attitudes of the time. I think I could do that. Wizards, spells, magical creatures. Obviously those before us needed escape back then as badly as we do now, but now we look at different forms of escapes, we’re much more visually oriented than they were.

Class went rather quickly. I ended up not having to talk and managed to just take notes the entire time, which suited me just fine since my headache hadn’t abated. The worst thing about the headaches was the fact that there was no pain reliever that worked. I’ve had dozens of tests and the only thing is that my Doctor has come to is the fact that I have migraines. Brilliant deduction. Some people have acne and I have splitting headaches I’ll eventually “grow out of”.

As I exited the class room, I glanced up and saw Lakhar leaning against the wall from me. A smile widened over my face as I crossed over to him. He was at least six inches taller than me and thin, which was a bit of a difference to my 5’6, slightly chubby frame. He shuffled his book bag over his shoulder as he folded his arms. In his hands were a small bouquet of flowers.

“You look like you’ve been revitalized by your educational experience today, Evelyn” he said, nodding back at the room behind me. He held the flowers out to me. “I thought these might help.”

I took the flowers and blushed. They had to have been from his parent’s flower shop. “Thank you,” I muttered before I raised them to my nose, inhaling deeply. Sweet and soft, exotic. Definitely not something that evolved on this planet. They were delilies, cerulean blue. They looked like a cross between irises and lilies and known to lessen migraines. I inhaled deeply from their petals. “Ancient literature is the bane of my existence. Next week, we’re covering horror stories. I have to read a few excerpts that feature monsters.”

He smiled a smile so big that it made my headache lessen. “Vampires, werewolves, and Zombies? They’re very interesting to read about in depth.”

“They’re all monsters based off of disease, it’s depressing,” I said, starting for the door, waving him along. I placed the flowers in a pocket of my bag, letting them peep out.

“It’s how they were able to deal with their fears. The black plague was a disease. They anthropomorphized it into a creature that they could physically fight off. It gave them a bigger sense of control over the—”

“We aren’t in class anymore,” I muttered, my head throbbing again. Why did he even care? These weren’t the works of his culture. Why did any Selk take interest in human culture? Humans knew next to nothing about Selk history. We weren’t allowed to read their language, but they could read and appreciate ours?

I felt an arm wrap around me and the warmness of him around my shoulder and the animosity that had begun to swell was gone.

"Relax," Lakhar said, and I did. I felt my cheeks redden and my shoulders relax. I shouldn’t feel that way about the Selks. They ruled us, they made the laws, but they also helped us in so many ways. Lakhar was still helping me, even now. 

“Your doctor still hasn’t found out why your headaches continue to be a problem? Perhaps you should see a different physician,” he said, slowing our pace to a stroll.

“What’s a different doctor going to do? More tests, more shots, more prodding. It’s easier to just stay with one. And I'm not going to a government doctor.”

“She isn’t working for you. There’s no shame in a second opinion.”

“She’s related to me through my mother. You know that. It’ll cause… problems. We aren’t Selks,” I smiled. “Humans get sick a lot easier. We aren’t as resilient. We can’t take some herbal medicine and be ready to run a marathon later.”

“You don’t think it’s problematic that your migraines haven’t abated in years?”

I shook my head. “No, there’s nothing wrong with me. No tumors or cancer. just this pain that keeps coming back. There's no reason for it.”

He looked almost sad as he exited the building owning, heading into the sun. I reached over and gripped his hand and the frown went away.

I was glad to see that the dreariness from this morning was gone. We lay on the grass of the amphitheater. It was passed noon, but there was still a great deal of moisture in the grass and I could feel it soak through my shirt. I lulled my head over to look at Lakhar, whose eyes were focused on the sky above us. I caught myself glancing at his forehead, looking for the hint of a third eye and knew that I wouldn’t see one. I thought about the traitor who had the eye tattooed on his forehead. How had he managed to do something like that without blinding himself?

“We think the ruler is going to die soon,” Lakhar whispered. “There are rumors that his third eye is opening.”

I felt my brow furl. “What? Really?” For a brief moment all I could do was wonder how rumors spread like this without hitting the media. This was pretty big, after all.

He shrugged. “They’re just rumors. But…” He sucked his lips into his mouth. “You know I’m in the age range of those that could be chosen to make the Run.”

I knew. I just didn’t want to think about it.

Once a ruler died, that night, those that were chosen would reveal themselves by glowing. Their third eye would open and they’d glow and rise into the sky and look like a star for a few minutes and then they’d be driven to go to the palace and fight the other Selks that were chosen until only one remained. It wouldn’t be that bad if it weren’t for the fact that there were ten and that meant the other nine had to die. There could be only ruler after all.

No one knows how this started, I don’t even think the Selks know this about themselves. Their explanation is that there was an ancient, corrupt king. Back in the days long ago, the throne was inherited, but his children were greedy and ill-fitted for the throne. To keep an uprising from happening, a mystic counsel cast a spell that lead that only those pure of heart may reach the throne and then the strongest of them would take it. It was just a story, though. Selks didn’t really know magic… or at least if they did, they didn’t perform it in front of humans.

“It doesn’t mean you’re going to be one. There have to be at least a thousand Selks your age around here. And there are only ten that get chosen and who says you’re so pure-heart—”

“I’m not worried,” he interrupted me, the song in his voice seemingly disappearing as he stared across the grounds, light glinting in his bright lilac eyes. The plainness, the flatness of his words caught me off guard. “It’s simply something that could happen. I may leave.”

I shook my head and sat up. “I don’t want to think about Lakhar. The Ruler is going to get better, the eye can close, can’t it?”

He glanced at me, giving me a small, wry smile that said I obviously didn’t understand. “If it puts your mind to ease, my birthday is in a week. If he makes it another week, it’s a problem you don’t have to worry about.”

I gave a small nod and turned my attention to the grass before me, petting it absent-mindedly. The motion settled my mind. The last thing I wanted was to think of possibly losing my best friend. Chosen Selks had to be eighteen. If they were older or younger, they weren't allowed to make the Run. Another thing that was never explained to us.

“Either way, being chosen is a big honor in and of itself. The new Ruler always honors the families of the fallen and you’re never forgotten.”

“I really don’t want to think about it and you sound almost excited,” I muttered. Obviously, this rested heavily on his mind.

I heard the shuffle of his body rising from the grass and he wrapped an arm around me.

“There’s nothing to worry about, Evely—Evie. As you said, there’s at least a thousand in the area and it’s ten in that approximate thousand, I probably won’t be one of them.” His voice was low and he tugged me closer. I relented and rested my head against his shoulder. He was warm and it calmed my nerves to feel the song of his voice against my temple. I could feel my headache lessen.  
We stayed like that for a while. Until the bells chimed and he needed to get to class and I needed go find Micah to get to my appointment. It was peaceful and lovely and I wished that it would've lasted forever. But, I knew it wouldn't Nice moments like this never lasted too long.


	3. Chapter 3

The examination room at the Doctor’s office was freezing, as usual. Micah offered his coat before I was ushered into the back, so it wasn’t as terrible. I thanked him and curled up tightly in the sleeves.  
Dr. Ashford was my mother’s second cousin on my grandfather’s side? Or something like that. All I knew was that was she had been my doctor since before I was born. I looked over the random holograms that offered common medical advice and found myself interested in one on indigestion.

It was rare for a Doctor not to work for the government nowadays. Medical care was free, but paperwork was heavily mandated. Diseases were reported, the exposed were notified, etc. There is no real privacy; hence the need for niche doctors that didn’t work within the governmental bounds. They were more expensive, but that was the price for privacy. They still had to work within the code of ethics, but they didn’t have to report patient names.

I was lucky that Dr. Ashford didn’t charge family. It was nice knowing that I had the privacy of niche doctor at the price of a government doctor.

“Evelyn!” Dr. Ashford said with a grin as she walked into the room with a tablet. She placed it on the table and it immediately activated, pulling up my medical records. She took a seat on a stool, her thin petite frame so much lower than mine. “How have you been? The migraines still bad?”

I pursed my lips and nodded. “They’re disrupting my school work,” I said. “I’m having trouble focusing on the reading.”

Brushing a willowy gray hair from her eyes, she pulled on a pair of goggles before grabbing my chin and forcing our eyes to meet. I stared into her dark eyes as she looked for something in mine.

“It doesn't appear as though your contacts are out of date,” she muttered, releasing me.

“No, it’s just the same headache that comes and goes in the center of my head,” I said pointing to the front of my forehead. “I didn’t really come in to complain about it again or anything new, really. Just the shot.”

Once a month I came to see Doctor Ashford and she checked me over and it always ended with a shot. I wasn’t in the mood for her to play doctor. Nothing had changed, nothing had ever changed. The lighting in the room was beginning to make the headache well up again. 

She gave a smirk before tapping the glass a few times and a door in the wall opened to present my injection. “You do get to the point, don’t you, Evelyn?” She paused and frowned when a signal sounded off. “That’s odd…”

My face immediately fell, I had been in the process of rolling up my sleeve when I heard the sound. It had never happened before. Where was the shot? Usually the wall opened up and my shot was prepared on a tray… but nothing.

 

Dr. Ashford rolled over and began to type on a holo-screen and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Evie,” she started. “We’re out of your medicine.”

The tension in my head worsened immediately at the thought of that. “What? I mean, you’re never out of my medicine,” I said flatly. 

“There was a problem with the order, the company didn’t send up the dosage.”

I gave a dry laugh. “No. No, that’s not true. I come every month. I’ve come every month since I hit puberty. It’s the same day each month. I’ve never walked out of here with a headache, Dr. Ashford,” I hissed. My mind was throbbing. I was going to have to make an appointment with a government Doctor, but they could take days, and who was to say that they would even have the medicine I needed?. “When… When are you going to get more in?”

Dr. Ashford reached out and touched my arm. “It’s okay, Evelyn. It’ll be here in a few days. I’ll call you the moment we have it in.”

I pulled away from her. “Should… Should I just go to another doctor? Can’t you write me a referral? This is really important. I have tests to study for! Regular painkillers don’t help!”

She gave an apologetic smile, but it didn’t feel the least bit apologetic to me. I was angry and she wasn’t giving me what I wanted.

“Calm down. I’m sure it’ll be a few days. There’s no need to go to another doctor. Most governmental office won’t carry your medicine and you know niche doctors are always backed up with appointments. Just wait a few days,” she said. Her voice was supposed to give the illusion of assurance, but it just felt too… casual. “We’ll let you know when it arrives.”

The whole ride home, I was grouchy. I hissed at Micah every time he tried to turn on the radio or when he tried to speak. Against my better judgement, I made him turn up the tint on the windows just so I could find a bit of relief.

When we walked through the door, I saw my Dad standing behind the stove with a spatula in hand. It was almost dark outside and my Dad grinned when he saw us. I could already smell that he had gotten off of work early and made dinner.

“Burgers tonight! Grilled corn!”

I gave a weak smile. It was three years ago when my mom passed away and three years ago when it was revealed that my father could only grill. Which is why Micah and I usually try to beat him to dinner, but Dad got off work early from the office.

Dad works as a paper pusher for the local government branch. I thought he did the cool field agent work when I was younger, but one “Bring-Your-Child-to-Work Day” later and I learned that Dad sat behind a desk all day under a pile of paperwork. I wasn’t disappointed—well, I was a little, but now I didn’t have to worry about my dad going off on dangerous missions I guess. He made good money for what it mattered and, bless him, he loved his job.

My father was lucky for his job. He had gotten it as soon as we moved into the neighborhood. My mother liked to entertain for her Selk friends and, one day, my father received a call with the job offer. He had been suspicious at first, but it turned out that someone knew he was looking at had put a good word in. Better a job doing something boring than no job at all.

I pulled off my satchel and took a seat at the table. My mood had been killed by the Doctor’s visit. The pain was so focused that I wasn't even sure that I was going to be able to eat.

Dad put a plate in front of Micah and me before he sat down. “I’ve thought about taking cooking classes,” Dad said before taking a bite of the burger. “I’d like to do something more with pricey beef than just making burgers.”

I smirked, enjoying the taste of meat. Anything made from cow was expensive, I was surprised that Dad had doled out the money for it. “Why? Are you sick of your own cooking too?”

He flushed. “Actually, I’ve met someone.” Dad looked down at his food, pinching a kernel of corn from the husk. “I can’t keep taking her out to disguise the fact that I can’t cook.”

My eyes widened. “You’re dating?”

My father, William, was forty-two and beginning to bald. He shared the same black hair as myself, same green eye. He was a little overweight, but he didn’t used to be, so some of the shirts that he wore were a little too tight. And I knew he was beginning to get lonely. He deserved to have someone in his life. Micah and I wouldn’t always be there.

Micah pursed his lips. “Dad didn’t want you to know at first, he thought that you’d be upset.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Mom died three years ago. I thought I was dealing with her death better than the two of you were,” I said before taking an angry bite of the burger.

“Her name is Arianna, she works in the Accounting Department and it’s only been three dates, but…” He looked thoughtfully down at his food. “I think it has potential to be serious.”

Mom’s death wasn’t raw for me anymore. It wasn’t. My dad wasn’t old and he deserved to be happy. What bothered me was that he assumed it would bother me.

“I hope it works out,” I muttered before taking another bite of the burger before putting it down. I pushed myself from the table and stood. “I’m going to Lakhar’s.” 

“Lakhar? Again?” my father asked. “You’ve been spending a lot of time with him lately.” His voice sounded so careful.

My father, unlike my mother, wasn’t the biggest fan of the Selks. He worked under them and with them in the government, but some of the new laws that had been passed by the King and Parliament as of late hadn’t won the Selks any favor. Not that my dad disliked all Selks, but he had made mention that I should have human friends as well as Selk. 

“He gets me. He is my boyfriend, after all.” I said, shrugging.

Dad scoffed. “They don’t get you. They don’t understand the human condition. We’re wired too differently from each other.” He sighed and pushed away his plate. “They emulate us, you know.”  
I felt my mouth form a strange smile. “What?” I asked, laughing. It was weird to hear any talk about Selks from my dad, let alone negative words. 

His face was straight, matter-of-fact. “They emulate us. They think it makes us more comfortable if they act like we do.”

“Yeah, I heard that too,” Micah piped up, mouth full. He paused and swallowed. “Buddy of mine dated a Selk girl and he said she did some weird stuff and the moment he would show some kind of confusion, she would change the way she acted.”

I rolled my eyes. “Like you wouldn’t change the way you were behaving when someone pointed out that you were being kind of weird,” I said.

“Think what you want, it’s emulation,” Dad said. “Why else do you think they have separate schools when they’re younger? Segregation because the younger ones aren’t trusted to keep their silence, or they don't know if they're deformed or whatever.”

When there are a lot of secrets, there's always a lot of ignorance. I ran into that frequently since Lakhar and I officially started dating. There weren't many interspecies couples and the ones that did appear were usually met with strange glances from both sides. Part of the reason that I didn't have many friends outside of Lakhar was because none of them could seem to accept the fact that we had feelings for each other. 

Espeically my father. I hadn't wanted him to find out we were dating. He found out when he barged into my room without knocking and caught us making out on my bed. At first I wasn't allowed to see him, but he eventually relaxed after Lakhar's family politely confronted him about it over dinner that we all had been invited to.

“Bye, guys,” I said, standing and walking toward the door. “When I come back, hopefully, this brand of crazy’ll be over.”

 

I walked to Lakhar’s house instead of doing my homework. The papers weren’t due for another week, I could handle a night of doing nothing. I was feeling terrible and I couldn’t focus on the articles that I needed to read, so it was better that I wait anyway. Dr. Ashford had written a note to my professors to explain the situation.

It was more than nice that Lakhar lived three streets over, it had made sneaking out to see him when I was younger a lot easier and tonight the fresh air was making the headache relax ever so slightly.

I didn’t head for the front door when I arrived because I knew that he wouldn’t be there. Lakhar’s study was in the backyard. Selks like to keep their work spaces entirely separated from each other. There were three standalone studies in the backyard, one for Lakhar and one for each of his parents.

The grass brushed against my almost-bear feet, blades licking my toes beside the flip-flops. As I walked toward the glowing room in his back yard, I paused long enough to slip through the fence that separated the front yard from the back. A small smile stretched my features as I saw his shadow in the glow and paused outside the door for a moment, hearing the music of some dead artist playing, muffled, inside of his study, something heavy with cellos.

I knocked lightly and stepped back from the door. It took a moment for him to stir enough to answer. I learned a long time ago, that it took him a moment to pull himself out of his thoughts to do the next thing and never to simply barge into the study.

The door swung open and Lakhar stood before me dressed in something I had never seen him in before: a hoodie. I arched my brow as took in his outfit, muddy knees on his jeans when the yard that I walked through just now hadn't been that wet. He must've gone out when he had gotten finished with classes but I had never seen him look so disheveled.

“You didn’t get your shot,” he said, frowning.

I opened my mouth to tell him the situation when he reached forward and cupped my face. His hands were cool against my skin and I felt my body relax. Whatever words I had were immediately gone and I caught myself. I immediately pulled away, embarrassed. 

“I-I-I… No, I didn’t,” I said. “They didn’t have it in,” I muttered. I raised a hand waved it over the front of him. "What happened to you? Is everything okay?" 

He didn't glance down at his clothes. Lakhar stepped aside and ushered me into his study. I spied a few piece of digital paper hovering over his desk. One caught my attention; it showed a picture of the traitor they were looking for. We hadn’t received the warning that he had been caught. He was still on the loose. He hadn’t been sighted in this area, but now I felt foolish for walking here. The last thing I needed was to get accosted by a criminal on the run from the law.

"Today was a busy day," he said. "I had work at my parents' shop. A mulch shipment came in."

“Are you stressed out about classes? With all the added work from the flower shop?” I asked, taking a seat on a cushion beside his desk.

His diamond-shaped pupils glanced to the floating holo-paper and he shook his head. “No,” he said, pulling down the digital papers and placing them in his desk. “I was looking over a few materials so I could begin my papers.”

I nodded and pulled my knees against my chest, shifting a little to make myself comfortable. “I wish I had gotten the shot. They're great, really. My head stops hurting instantly.”

"I'm sorry that you weren't able to get that relief," he said, walking toward me.

I gave up trying to sit comfortably like that and stretched my legs. “Why were you looking at the photo of the Traitor?”

His face stiffened for a moment and he shrugged. “Phyre and I used to be friends,” he muttered. 

My eyes widened. "You did?" I heard almost nothing of Lakhar's life before he came to Elrad.

“We lived in the same neighborhood in Raska before my family moved here. We were no longer friends by the time I left.”

I tried to imagine the tattooed, hardened criminal hanging out with Lakhar, who was so tame, so average. I wondered what kind of person Lakhar had been when he had been in Raska. Besides telling me about the house he had grown up in, nothing was said about his childhood. What kind of person had Lakhar been before his family moved to this kingdom? What had spurred the change?

“What happened?”

He was silent for a long moment before he looked to me. “We had a disagreement,” he said simply. 

I didn’t push him despite the aching want to know more. He obviously didn’t want to talk about it. Or maybe he couldn't. I’m sure Lakhar had a good reason for kicking this Phyre guy out of his life. He was now a traitor and on the run from Kingdom authorities, after all. 

Lakhar took a seat at his desk and leaned over in his chair to look at me. “You needed an escape from home,” he said, observing. He wasn’t wrong. He never was. Lakhar knew me.

“Dad’s dating and then we started talking about… Selks.” 

“Selks? Is the person in question a Selk?” He asked, tilting his head slightly, interested.

I shook my head. “No, she works with him. Some lady in Accounting.” I licked my lips and looked away from him. “Do Selks emulate humans to make us feel more comfortable?”

“Yes,” he said simply. 

I waited for him to say something else, but he didn’t. I should’ve known. Lakhar was my boyfriend, but even he wouldn’t tell me more than he thought I needed to know about Selks. I hated the feeling of a lack of trust between us that was ingrained in both of our cultures. They were rulers, but they lived among us. They intermarried with us, but they were the upper class. They were our friends, but they kept secrets. They claimed we were equals, yet their words were more valued than ours.

There was a strange emptiness as I looked around Lakhar’s study. It looked like a study that a human would have. I wondered if that meant it was designed with the intent to have human visitors to look in and see how ‘human’ they were. I had no idea what it meant to truly be Selk. I only knew that it was like to be a Selk through what they chose to show us.

It was the first time I really felt a rift between our species, our friendship. I stared at the floor of his study, searching for the reason I came here in the first place. I had been looking for my friend to make me feel better about my bad day, but I was met with passive resistance.

“You’re upset,” he said. 

I came out of the fog of thought that centered around my head and looked up at him. “A little. I’d like an explanation,” I muttered. 

“I can’t offer you one,” he said. “I overstepped my bounds by confirming your question.” He ran a hand over his face and pursed his lips. “Remember earlier, when we were talking about monsters?”

I nodded.

“How do you think your race is going to write about our race? What kind of monsters do you think they’ll create to literately fight us off?”

My face fell. What was he talking about? 

“Selks aren’t monsters,” I said, folding my arms over my chest.

He smiled. “You’re kind, Evelyn. You’re my only friend. There’s so much I wish I could tell you, so much which I wish we could discuss, but I’m forbidden to.” He licked his lips. “And for that I’m terribly sorry.”

I gave a weak smile and stood. I took his hands from the chair. I held his long, willowing fingers, intertwining them with my short stubby ones. “If the Emperor dies and you are chosen to make the Run, I want to go with you.” Runners were allowed to have someone go with them, usually another Selk. But I could do it. I could go with him to the Palace. They were only allowed one weapon, but the Assistants could have one as well. They could help. I could help him.

He looked at me, eyes meeting mine. “You aren’t worried about being wounded? Assistants are free game as much as the Runners are.”

I shook my head. “You’re my best friend. I’m… I’m kind of lost without you anyway.”

“You can’t go the whole way,” he said softly, heaving a sigh. “You could only do the first half. Humans can’t pass the barrier.”

I forgot about that. There was a barrier in the entrance to the Palace. Humans weren’t allowed to go that far. Other Selks would have an assistant that could follow them directly to the throne. I pursed my lips at the thought. “Then who would go with you?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I haven’t considered it yet. I haven’t been chosen to make the Run. It’s presumptuous to plan these things ahead of time.”

Releasing his hand, I walked over to the window of his study and looked out at the skies. True, the Selks had taken over, and true we were under their reign, but people seemed to forget that they also saved us. 

Humans had forgotten that by taking us over, Selks had relieved us of so much pain. There were no more wars, the technology was better; we were actually freer under their laws than we had been under our own government. They forced us to be passive and ruled us, but we flourished beneath them. They provided for us.

I glanced back to him. “Please consider me, Lakhar. I can always guard the entrance once you go in. I could keep others from coming in.”

I wasn’t trained in combat, but neither were most Selks…as far as I knew. And the other Assistants had to be close in age to the Runners anyway. They couldn’t be older than twenty-one. I could do this. It was all about choosing the right weapon.

“You’ve never killed someone, Evelyn. Could you live with yourself?” 

I hadn’t thought of that either.

“Stop questioning me,” I hissed, headache flaring up again, coming back worse than before. I probably wouldn’t be worth it as a partner. Not with these headaches, at least. I wasn’t physically fit either and 

I carried a bit more weight than most. And I wasn’t very quiet. “I just said to consider me. If you find someone more worthy than me, I’ll understand.”

I felt arms around me. I froze. I had forgotten how lightly Selks could walk and the thought made me feel even more worthless. I wouldn’t be of help to him at all.

I leaned back into him.

“I may not have to make the run, Evie,” he whispered. “But if I do, I would be honored to have you at my side.”

I smirked at the thought and hugged his arms. 

Lakhar drove me home a few hours later. Neither of us talked any more about the Run or about what it would mean for either of us if he had to take it. I assumed that Lakhar simply wasn’t allowed to discuss it with me, and that was fine. I was happy to have the subject dropped.

“Good night Evelyn,” he said, his face returned to the emotionless state that it normally stayed in. He pursed his lips. “What I told you about the King this morning…that’s Selk-only knowledge. I do trust you.”

My face fell from the smile it had just had. I blushed and looked away from him. It had been on his mind too, the secrecy. He was trying to prove that he did trust me. I gave him a nod.

“It’s safe with me, I haven’t told a soul and I won’t.” I gave him another smile and started for the door backwards, watching him. I drew my attention away only for a second when I nearly tripped in a dip in the yard.

His lips twitched into a small smirk, the closest I’ve seen him to a smile in a long time, before he drove away.

Inside, my Dad was still up, watching the news and Micah was nowhere to be seen. I said good night to my father and headed up to my room and got ready for bed. It was now that I realized that my headache was coming back with a vengeance. Lakhar was good for me, it seemed. When my mood was good, I hardly noticed the throbbing.

I bathed, brushed my teeth, and put on the sleep state monitor before lying down for the night. I curled up, thinking about the Run that was may happen soon. If it did happen, there was no way Lakhar would be chosen. He was one of many in the area. I thought about him making the Run toward the palace. 

During a Run, all governmental offices were shut down, all business ground to a halt, and there was a house arrest for everyone. No one was allowed to leave during the Run, for fear that a third party would try to kill one of the Runners. There was no emergency teams available, no doctors, no firefighters, you had to be prepared with food and supplies once it was revealed there would be a Run that night. There wasn’t even media coverage during the time, the Runners were revealed through governmental helicopters and then they too were put out of commission. There was no video about a Run, no news. 

Lakahr needed someone who could follow him the whole way, I couldn’t. I could barely get downtown without much aid of a map. I hadn’t even seen the Palace in person before. 

It would be a death sentence to go with him, but I knew that I had no other choice.


	4. Chapter 4

I dreamt of lights. Lights that came from the chest of everyone around me, different colors. Everyone, but me, at least. I watched everyone else rise above me and leave me there, I had the feeling of not belonging as I watched everyone around me rise and become stars. Several images were just a little too far away for me to still reach, but the lights…

Sitting up, the first thing that brought me into consciousness was the fact that my headache began again. A throb in my eyes that told me sunshine was going to make my existence a miserable one. I sighed and glared at the light shining in from the window and pulled the covers over my head for a long moment. I just wanted a few more minutes of nothing. My first class wasn’t for another hour, so I had some time to just laze about before Micah and I had to be out the door. I wondered briefly if there was going to be another road block.

“Evelyn! Come downstairs!”

I grunted and threw the covers off of me. I put in my contacts and felt a bit of the tension relax as they darkened to lessen the amount of light that entered my pupils. I decided to try some of the over-the-counter painkillers and hope that I’d get a call from Dr. Ashford’s office about injection. 

Making my way to the kitchen, Micah walked out and handed me a cup of coffee. I thanked him sleepily as I walked to the table. I vaguely heard my father mention how relieved he was that he had gone to the store the night before. I mostly ignored my surroundings as I turned my eyes to the holo-screen.

It wasn’t a surprise to me that our ruler had died. He was nearly one hundred and in recent years, people began to question how good his decisions were with his mind so racked with age. On top of that, Lakhar had mentioned that his third eye was opening. That was never a good sign for a Selk. I guess they couldn’t after all.

It was still a shock, however, when I saw the news headline on the holo-screen that morning.

—Great Ruler of Elrad, King Arestus Passes, Eyes Closed—

I nearly spat out the coffee in my mouth before I set down the cup a little too hard as I listened to the beautiful Selk reporter giving the news in both the local language, English, and again in Selky. He had been sick, he had passed away due to illness.

I turned my attention to my breakfast. I didn’t really care about the report. All that mattered was that the Ruler was dead, and tonight, those chosen would be revealed to start the Run and I…

I had to make sure that he wasn’t going to be one of the Chosen. I mean, I wouldn’t know until night fall if he would start glowing, and even if he was chosen, there was absolutely nothing that I could do to stop it, but--

I was out of the house before my father could stop me. I stranded Micah at the house and drove to Lakhar's house. The short drive between his house and mine felt like it took hours instead of minutes. 

Upon reaching his house, I parked haphazardly in the driveway and ran to the door, beating it. His mother opened it with a frown, a tear in her eye.

“Good evening, Evelyn,” she said, her voice a soft choir that sang a song of mourning. “How may I help you?”

Regna Mason wasn’t much taller than I was, but her proportions were different. Her hair was cut into a bob and deep red and her eyes a pale blue. Her skin the color of caramel, contrasting so much to her pale son, and, today, she wore a black dress that emphasized her small waist.

I nodded my head to her. “I’m here to offer my condolences about our King—Is Lakhar here?” I couldn’t even hide the reason behind my visit. She knew why I was really there; I hardly even needed the pretense.

“There isn’t a reason to worry, Evelyn.” She moved ever-so carefully aside and let me in and I looked over her perfectly manicured home. “If he is chosen, it won’t happen until nightfall.” There was a trill hope in her voice. She wanted this for her son. “And the Run won’t begin until tomorrow at dusk.”

“Where is he?” I breathed, angry that she seemed so excited. Seeing him wouldn’t do anything but make me feel better, but, in that moment, I needed that more than I needed anything else.

Before I received an answer, I hurried up to his room. I tossed open the door to see him laid back in bed, his attention turned toward the intrusion. 

“Evelyn?” he asked, pulling himself to his feet. I hurried over and touched his face, his forehead. No eye yet. Of course there wouldn’t be. His forehead was as plain as it ever had been. His skin was still the same color, no change. The same opaque-ness, no glowing.

He smiled and pulled my hands away from his face.

“Relax,” he said softly, and I did. “He only just died this morning. It’ll be tonight before something happens.”

Lakhar wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against his chest. He shushed me calmly and swayed with me for a moment.

It only now hit me that I was worried for no reason. I had expected to come in, see his body raised off the ground, eye wide open, glowing. Silly. I was being silly. I had panicked. 

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I saw the news and I..”

He only shushed me again. “It’s okay." 

Lakhar led us both to his bed and we sat there. When we had talked about the Run last night, it didn’t seem so close. It could’ve been weeks away. I could’ve been finished with my classes and I would be searching fruitlessly for a summer job.

“We should do something fun today,” he said, his voice calming me. “To celebrate the memory of King Arestus and usher in the Run.” He took my hands, holding my fingers in his own.  
I gave a small smile. “How do we celebrate?” I asked. I wondered if I should've been at home instead, helping my family prepare for the Run by buying supplies, but I didn't want to be away from him. What if something happened while I was gone? It was a silly fear, but one I had nonetheless.

“My mother was talking about it this morning,” he started; voice a relaxing symphony that eased my body. “She was suggesting that I go out and have some fun. I think she was planning a meal in the   
park. for the family You’re welcome to come.”

It felt a little uncomfortable celebrating the death of the Ruler, but then I reasoned if it was okay if I was going with Lakhar and his family. I didn’t know much about Selk celebrations when it came to mourning, so this would be a learning experience for anyone in my generation.

I winced as a throb came back over my head and a thought occurred to me. If the Run was happening tonight, there was no telling how long I was going to have to wait until I got my injection from Dr. Ashford. If it wasn’t even at the office, then that meant I had to wait for delivery after the Run. I had no idea long that could even take.

Excusing myself from Lakhar, I stepped into the hallway and called her office only to have it told to me that the injection hadn’t been delivered yet. Of course it wouldn’t be there. The headache was fine now, but it would be throbbing later. I could already feel the threat of it. Well, I’d lived with worse.

An hour later found myself at the park with Lakhar’s family. His mother, Regna, and his father, Vesran. Both worked in a privately owned flower show downtown that they had now closed in preparation for the Run. They were famous for their hybrids and their ability to coax a spectrum of colors from each breed of flower.

“How is your family, Evelyn?” Vesran asked, helping his wife spread a table cloth over a picnic table. 

I smiled as I stood next to the table, holding a small cooler that held enough drinks for the four of us. “They’re good. My father is still with his government job. He… is apparently dating again. My brother my fail his first university class, he’s kind of worries.”

Regna beamed. “Your father has begun looking for a new life partner? How very good for him.” She pinned the cloth to the table. “No one should be alone for very long. It’s not good emotionally for them. We’re lucky that Lakhar has you.”

I blushed. Lakhar's parents weren't like other Selks. Some Selks didn’t allow their children to be friends with humans. Vesran and Regna liked me and didn't mind our relationship. At least Lakhar's parents didn't judge us.

Lakhar walked passed me and placed the heavy picnic basket on the table. He looked at his parents and uttered something in Selky, something that sounded almost like a chiding song and I shook the thoughts away, putting the cooler on the table.

“I wish your father happiness on his endeavor,” Vesran said, changing the subject. “Your mother’s death was such a sad time. We mourned her for weeks.”

My face fell a little. They had mourned her. I know they had. Selks mourn by wearing in black, keeping a photo alive in a holo-frame by the window. Lakhar wore black to school for days. Our mothers had game nights together.

She had died so quickly. I remember her in bed, throwing up. We thought she was sick, there was no way she could’ve been pregnant as she had been sterilized after my birth. Dr. Ashford at first thought it was influenza, but even after medicine, she didn’t get better. The sickness had been too much for her and she succumbed to it. My family was with her when she had. A Wednesday evening in March.

“I know,” I said finally. “And I and my family appreciate that you’ve had us in your thoughts for so long,” I said with a forced smile. Maybe I wasn’t as over my mother’s death as I had convinced myself that I was. I still missed her so much.

I felt Lakhar touch my wrist, taking it into his hand as he led me to the table. "Come now, Evelyn. We don't want to mourn for too long. We want to celebrate their lives. We're pleased we had them in our lives at all. Your mother and our King. Be happy, not sad. They're journey is over and ours still continues"

I gave a small smile as I took a seat. 

“Selk tradition says that we have to eat the King’s favorite meal as a sign of remembrance,” she smiled. “A toast, of sorts.”  
“What was his favorite?” I asked, a little unsure.

“Peach bread,” Vesran said, pulling out a large loaf. He chuckled and began to cut slices. “I enjoy it too, so at the least we aren’t in line at a bakery trying to get some.”  
Selk food wasn’t my favorite. They were strict vegans and I never found that their food had too much flavor, but I guess I just didn’t have the palate for grains and fruit that they did. They hated meat and non-organic sugars and I absolutely loved them. But that never stopped me from eating dinner with Lakhar’s family. They just found me a little… picky.

Regna handed her son and myself a slice wrapped in a napkin and nodded for us to go ahead and eat. Not bad for Selk food. It was sweet and there was a glaze on top that was divine. I hummed happily as I looked around the park and saw a few dozen other Selk families doing the same thing as we were and felt strangely like I was a part of them. The only human in a sea of Selk and it seemed I was the only person who noticed. 

“I met the king once,” Vesran said with a smile, taking a bite of the bread.

“Oh, Vesran, I’m sure she doesn’t want to hear that silly old story.”

The fact that they were speaking English around me for my benefit made me feel even happier. My brother told me that most Selk families weren’t so accommodating and only spoke the local language when they had to. He had been friends with a Selk boy in Junior High and the friendship didn’t last after an awkward slumber party where he hadn’t understood anything that had been said besides the occasional joke in English.

My mother had a lot of Selk friends. I remember them coming over and playing games in the living room while my father was at work. They spoke Selk around her as well. She had just smiled and continued playing whatever game they were working through, striking up conversations in English. They had book clubs, tupperwear parties, and card games. Most of the nights were spent with Micah and I being sent to the movies or forced into another room with the other children and forced to play with them.

It was strange to me that the Masons had mourned her as long as they did. It was polite, I supposed. I was friends with Lakhar. Our mothers weren’t friends, neither were our fathers. Regna didn't like the card parties and my father had no interest in playing golf with Vesran. Outside seeing each other at school functions, they never really spoke to each other. They were just genuinely nice people. 

“When did you meet him?” I asked, smiling, taking small bites of the bread. Selks were slow eaters. I had to pace myself around them. A meal was a drawn out process.

“I was in the Kingdom, soon after we first moved in. Selks, as you know, have an application process in order to move to a new kingdom, and… Well, he just happened to walk by. King Arestus was a real ruler of the people. He would walk up to any Selk and have a conversation. Very Selk and human friendly,” 

I nodded. I wasn’t sure I agreed entirely. King Arestus had stopped some of the food shortages for the lower class Humans, but most of his legislations were more Selk-friendly than anything else. Like the fact that a lot of land wouldn’t be developed for housing in favor of farming organic food for the Selk palate despite the growing human population in certain areas. 

We returned to their house after the picnic. I walked with Lakhar to his study, taking the seat again on the cushion by his desk. I felt a lot better. They hadn’t brought up the fact that their son could be Chosen. They didn't discuss that they could also soon be celebrating his life, much to my relief.

“Mother said you were welcome to wait out the Run here with me,” he said, taking a seat at his desk. He turned on his holoscreens and glanced over at me.

Staying with Lakhar for the few days that the Run would take place in would be nice. No school, no live broadcasts, just a lot of time spent with his family. It would be nicer than spending it with my family at least. After the conversation at dinner last night, I was finished with talking Selks with my Dad.

“I am definitely interested in staying. Let me call my father?”

Lakhar nodded as I pulled my bracelet to my face. He excused himself from the study and I chose my father from my contact list.

“Hey Dad,” I said when his face appeared in a small holoscreen that appeared from my wrist.

My father was at home. With the death of the Ruler, meant the start of paid government holidays. He’d be off work until the Coronation of the new Ruler.

“Evie? Where are you? Lakhar’s?”

I nodded. “Yeah, they asked me to stay for the Run,” I said, resting against a stack of pillows on the floor. “Looks like I’m going to get my homework done after all.”

Dad frowned. “Stay for the Run? What if Lakhar is Chosen?”

I pursed my lips. “Then it looks like I’ll probably come home tomorrow morning, won’t I? We're able to move freely until noon tomorrow.” Unless he asked me to be his Assistant, I added mentally.

“Just be careful,” he said. “They say things get wild during a Run.” 

“I’m sure the Masons and I will have a crazy time.”

“Micah and I will survive on our own,” he said with a small smile. “Call me though, okay? Keep me updated.”

I smiled and gave a nod before I ended the call. I imagined Dad and Micah would probably watch movies and play card games and Micah making dinner since Dad wouldn’t be able to use the grill. I’d be here with the Masons, eating Selk food and doing homework with Lakhar in his room.

“I heard your call end,” Lakhar said, reentering the study. “I need to do get some work done before the Run. We still have a lot to finish for once the Run is over.”

I wanted to argue that the university had already sent out a notice about the papers that weren't due, but I didn’t. Lakhar didn’t like wasted time. I’m sure that the other Selks were probably going to do work at home as well. They really managed to keep themselves busy.

Lakhar and I settled back in, starting our work again. I started working on my paper for my English class, reading Frankenstein as he poured through mathematical formulas.

The Traitor had come back into my mind as I sat there. There was a Run and the traitor hadn’t been caught yet. There was no telling if he was even still in our kingdom or not, but he was dangerous, wasn’t he? It wasn’t good that he was just out there, maybe even waiting for one of the Runners to go by, killing them without a care. Would he be dumb enough to reveal himself? Then again, having a 

Runner as a hostage was a good way to get away.

“They haven’t caught the traitor,” I muttered softly.

“They’ve doubled their efforts,” he said softly. “They have until tomorrow night at sunset to find him,” Lakahr whispered. “Even if they don’t find him, Phyre probably isn’t even close enough to make a difference. It’d be in his best interest to hang low during the Run. 

Lakhar lowered the floating papers and stretched. "Come on, we're going to the best view in the house."

The climb to the top of the roof was nerve wracking. Lakhar had climbed ahead of me and helped pull me onto the roof. I had nearly slipped as he climbed to the apex of his roof, but I managed to catch myself before I slid too far.

I gave a nervous laugh as I leaned against his shoulder. We sat on the roof of his house, watched the sun go down together. I could hear the muffled sounds of the television in his house below us quietly. From the roof, we’d see the glowing throughout part of the kingdom, at least. We’d be able to see if anyone nearby would glow. 

I hadn’t been alive during the last Run, but I had heard stories about it. The lights are blinding. When someone is chosen, it’s obvious. It’s not something that can kept a secret. Maybe someone I knew would have to make the Run. Once they were chosen, I’d still have time to make it home before the house arrest to get a few things. Although, I wouldn’t mind spending a few days here with Lakhar.

“I’ve seen footage from the last Run,” he said. He pointed to a hovercraft that was flying nearby. “I’m sure they’re taking footage to document this one.”

I squeezed my eyes shut a little to see the craft. The Runs weren’t televised due to the house arrest and the fear that a third party would interfere. The identities of the Runners were made obvious as quickly as possible and interviews were done to document the people in question. We had watched the interviews of the last Run in a history class in High school. I saw the Assistants and the weapons they chose. There had only been a handful of human Assistants in the past. They had the same idea as I had: they waited outside the door and fought off as many people as they could once their Selk had entered the building.

I had only ever killed one thing in my entire life. When I was fifteen, my father managed to get a hunting and weapons license from the Government and he and Micah and I went into the woods. It was soon after my mother had died and my dad wanted to get away from the mourning and the sympathy that family and friends offered. He wanted to feel normal, to do something normal. So, he decided that taking us into the woods and hunting was the perfect thing for us to do.

The first night there, I had spotted a large doe. I had been out trying to find the stream to get water in the cleansing canteen when I saw her long graceful body leaned over the water, lapping at it carefully. Deer weren’t endangered, but their species had taken a big hit after the near extinction of cows due to disease a century ago. Both species were slowly recovering, but beef and venison prices were still extremely high. So, to see a deer there so simply was strange. It felt like a good sign.

Dad had seen it too. He had followed me out to make sure I was okay when he spotted her too. He was careful not to scare her away when he handed me a rifle. I remembered thinking that it had to have taken a lot of clearance in order to get such a high caliber weapon. He’d leaned down next to me and whispered that shoot was just how we practiced with the air rifles that he had. He slid the rifle properly into my arm and told me to shoot. I hadn’t wanted to kill the deer, but I fired when my dad told me to and I hit her. 

I remember watching the body fall over next to the stream. I wasn’t sure at first where I had hit her. I was frozen, staring at what I had just done. It hadn’t even registered with me that my dad had pulled away from me until he had obscured my view. 

I had killed the good sign that I saw and I decided to never go hunting with him again.  
“Evelyn?”

Lakhar’s voice brought me out of my thoughts.

“Do you know how to get to the palace?” I asked, glancing at him.

He nodded. “Yes, I’ve been there a few times since we’ve moved to the kingdom,” he said. 

Humans only had one form to sign when moving between kingdoms, but it was harder for Selks to move. It wasn’t really explained to humans why it was more difficult, but I figured it must be something to do with allegiance. Allegiance was more important for Selks, especially when they were the governing body. Sometimes it didn’t make sense to me the things that they kept secret from us.

“It’s nearly time,” he whispered softly, nodding to the setting sun. “Less than five minutes.” There was anticipation in his voice. He wrapped an arm around me and the tension in my head lessened. 

I was excited at the prospect of a new ruler, but not the fact that my boyfriend might die trying to become it were he Chosen. Selks were fair in their choosing of leaders, it was almost as if a higher power was choosing who would be best able to lead the people of a particular kingdom. So much more fair than the way humans used to choose leaders, based solely on words and the images that they chose to put forward, humans never knowing for sure that they were able to believe.

“Who is going to make the Run with you, if you’re Chosen?” I asked, eyes locked on the orangey sky before me. It was twilight. Soon it would be dark and we’d see the shining beacons rise into the air.  
“Was it not you that offered?” he asked, not even bothering to glance at me.

My breath caught in my throat. He really considered me? I felt so touched. I gave a small smile and nodded. “Then I’ll make the Run with you.” My voice was playful, I imagined us hopping off the roof, Mother and Father Mason congratulating us, celebrating the rest of the night with each other, being honored at the Ceremony tomorrow.

The Ceremony that would happen would be small. It would be televised in the homes of everyone just after the house arrest, which meant it had to be filmed before. It introduced everyone to all the Runners and Assistants as well as showed which weapons they chose and where their starting place would be. Every pair did have to start twenty miles away from the castle and then head directly toward it.

I held my breath as the sun sank, the orange seemingly taking forever to turn black. I felt my heart beginning to race. The darkness slowly began to spread over the kingdom and I watched, expectantly for the lights to rise into the sky.

And they did.

My eyes widened as a flash of light flashed to my left, I looked over and scrambled away from Lakhar. His body was light, pure light. The only thing that remained a shred of Lakhar was the bright outline of his face that was visible even through the spectacular light. I let out a scream as I saw his eye open. A place on the center of his forehead was wide. It was hard to see any detail of the eye with the light surrounding his body, but it was there… it was open. He was Chosen.

In the panic that swept me, I hadn’t heard his parents run to the front yard. I hadn’t looked around to see if there were any nearby Chosen. I tore my eyes away from him and saw three beams in the distance, spotted his parents on the ground below, pointing and yelling in Selky. Vesran pulled Regna into his arms and pointed up happily to their son, yelling in Selky.

I carefully stood and watched as the light slowly began to dissipate and Lakhar slowly fell back to the roof. I reached out for him, helping him to keep his balance and not fall from the roof.

Aside from the large eye in the center of his forehead, he looked no different. He was the same Lakhar, pretty much, but he was so different. There was purpose to him now and I didn’t pretend that I didn’t feel it. He had a mission. He could run everything; everything inside of the confines of the castle could be his. 

We needed to run. If he was going to rule, he had to take it. He had to get to the Palace and he had to rid himself of the competition. He could have it all. 

I found myself hating that I now understood why his mother seemed so excited to have her son make the run. It had so obviously been there before me and I had been too blind to see it: the power that was just beyond his reach. I was scared and excited of everything that was going to come.

Lakhar hadn’t said a word. Instead, once he came back to himself, he pointed to the sky, to the helicopter that was heading toward them. They were going to identify him. 

The sounds of the propellers chopping through the air sounded around us. I hurriedly slipped down the ladder, my bracelet blowing up with messages from my family. They had no doubt seen me on the news by now. I was positive that we were on live television.

Regna and Vasran ran to their son and enveloped in him in their arms as I stood awkwardly to the side. 

Lakhar pulled away from them and grabbed my hand. He looked up at the helicopter and shouted something in Selky to it, raising our hands together in the air. I tried to look as brave as I could, but I was terrified. I had no idea what was happening, but cheers and pleased shouts came from his parents as I kept my brave face on.

Through his yelling, I noticed that his voice no longer held the sing-song lyrics that it once did. His voice sounded gruff, guttural.

What had seemed hours ago like a faraway fear was real now. We were going to run together. I may not be alive a few days from now or my boyfriend may soon be the new King.

Mortality was real and suddenly my whole life had to be about Lakhar Mason if I wanted to live.


	5. Chapter 5

I woke up the next morning on the Mason’s couch. I hadn’t remembered falling asleep, I assumed it must’ve happened at some point before the family guests had left.

There hadn’t been a chance to speak with Lakhar that night. He had gone to his room and locked himself inside and couldn’t be lured out and refused to let anyone inside. Not that anyone but myself even tried. No, instead, I spent the evening talking to Selk relatives about how honored I was to be his Assistant and how it was a big honor for a human to make the Run. I also received an angry phone call from my father who had learned from the News Broadcast that I would be an Assistant and his insistence that I come home.

Apparently the message that Lakhar screamed out to the helicopter had been that I would be his Assistant and how we would run to glory… or something. I had never really gotten a full translation or maybe I was too tired to remember exactly what I was told. 

I yawned as I sat up from the makeshift bed, smelling food in the kitchen. My stomach did a loud grumble as I tottered to see what was being made. I spied Momma Mason behind the stove making pancakes as Poppa Mason read a paper in Selky. 

“Good Morning, Evelyn,” Vesran said, putting down the paper. “Lakhar will be down for breakfast in a moment. He’s preparing for the Ceremony today.” He pointed to my wrist where my bracelet would be before letting it appear in his hand. “I hope you don’t mind that I removed this, you needed your rest.”

I gave a sleepy nod as I took it back from him and checked my messages. All of the congratulations and well-wishing from social media exploded. I was never this popular before so it was strange to get this kind of attention at all. I deleted most of it and looked for the important messages, a video from Micah telling me that he’d be coming soon to the Masons with Dad, a few written messages from extended family telling me to enjoy the opportunity to kill a few people, and a voice message from my Doctor’s Office. My eyes widened. It wasn’t going to get my usual injection, but my doctor was offering something help me through the Run. 

I said a hasty goodbye to the Masons as I hurried out the door. The Ceremony would be filmed at eleven a noon and it was eight. There was more than enough time to get there and get back. I didn’t know what went into the Ceremony and knew that I would be glued to the Masons’ sides for as long as I possibly could.

Obviously, I wasn’t going to be the important guest at the Ceremony, but I knew I still had to be there. I needed to know what the other Chosen and Assistants looked like in the flesh. I saw photos and a few videos of them the night before but photos aren’t real enough to capture who they really are. I recognized a few faces from around town and saw that I wasn’t the only human that was going to do the Run. There was a human male that was paired with a Selk male. 

I didn’t have to wait long for Doctor Ashford to see me, for which I was glad. My face had apparently gotten around and the people in the office wanted to talk to me about the Run, asking questions I certainly didn’t know the answer to, when a nurse called me back into an examination room. My head was throbbing, it was beginning to feel as though my brain was swelling inside of my skull.

“You’re going to make the Run with Lakahr Mason,” the nurse said as she took my blood pressure. It wasn’t a question, but I still confirmed it.

“Yeah, it’s kinda crazy,” I said, watching the senor against my skin, trying to focus on something that was the growing pain in my skull.

“It’s too bad that you weren’t the Chosen one,” she said with a sigh, pulling away the sensor. “Temperature’s fine. Doctor Ashford will be in in a moment.”

“Thanks?” I said as she left. Even if I could’ve been, I never would’ve wanted to make the Run as a contender for the throne. I could only imagine the pressure that Lakhar was feeling. I was feel pressured and I was only going to help him… Although, I suppose that my role is a little more important than I was giving myself credit for.

There was a knock and the door opened. Doctor Ashford walked in and pulled up the holograms on the wall. She gave me a small glance as she read over the material before her.

“Someone has a big day today,” she said, distracted. “Sorry that you aren’t going to have your normal injection to help you through it.”

Heaving a sigh, I nodded. “Yeah, but it can’t be helped,” I said. “I’m just glad that you have something that’ll alleviate the problem.”

“This shot is a little more dangerous than the one that we usually give you. Once the Run is over, you’ll have to wait a few months to begin the other regiment. It takes a while to let this filter out of your system. I figured it was a risk you were willing to take.”

She was right. It was a risk I was willing to take. Because who was to say that I would even live a few months after this? I rolled up my sleeve. I just hoped that the effects would last as long as I did.  
The shot was over before I had time to prepare myself. I had long since gotten used to the idea of injections, but the pinch and the burn of a shot was something I never was able to get used to.

Relief washed over me immediately. I felt the tension wash away from not just my head, but from my body, everything relaxing. I hadn’t realized how much pressure had been held in my body until that moment, and now it was gone. I wondered vaguely why Doctor Ashford didn't use this more often. I felt even better than I did after the other shots.

Doctor Ashford pulled out a small canister of aerosol spray of Instant Healer that healed the injection site before she gave me a pat on the shoulder. 

“Well, there you are,” she whispered before leaning in and wrapping her arms around me, giving me a tight hug. “I’m proud of you. I know you’ll do well. Your mother would’ve proud too. Be brave during the Run.”

Doctor Ashford was related to me through my mother, but I had never been certain how. Never before had she given me a hug or treated me as more than a patient. I returned the hug carefully, unsure. 

“Thank you,” I whispered, pulling away from her. I cleared my throat and hopped off the table. “I don’t think it’s going to be that big of a deal. A lot of Assistants survive the Runs. No one’s as interested in them as they are in the Runners.”

“A lot of Selk Assistants usually survive the Run,” she corrected. “Make sure that he doesn’t give you information that you aren’t supposed to have. There’s a lot of desperation in a Run.”

I didn’t answer. That wasn’t going to happen. Selks were raised to remember their places and to watch their tongues. The Runner’s mind would be on the goal. Besides that, Lakhar wasn’t very chatty. Since he had been chosen, he hadn’t spoken in English. I couldn’t understand anything that he had said, so until he did, it didn’t really matter what he said to me.

“I’m not worried about it,” I said as I hopped off the table. “We’re going to make it. I’m going to get him to the Palace as quickly as possible and then I’m going to guard the force field outside. It’s the only thing I can do. If I die… Well, at least I won’t have to start my thesis for my major,” I smirked.

Her brow rose in interest. “And what would you do if you could pass through the barrier?”

“Protect him at all costs,” I answered immediately. “But it doesn’t matter. I can’t. I’m going to guard. I’m going to kill the Runners and make sure my friend survives.”

Doctor Ashford pursed her lips. Her eyes were so focused on me that I began to feel uncomfortable. 

"Is something wrong?"

Doctor Ashford reached into her pocket and pulled out a long card. I recognized it immediately as one of the many tarot cards that my mother used to read for the Selk ladies that she entertained. Doctor Ashford was often at these parties.

She held up the card so that I could see it before she offered it to me. It was the King of Cups. 

"Laura used to love these cards. She gave the deck to me before she died, you know."

I knew. I had wanted them, but she had given them to her cousin instead. I was sore thinking about it. 

"She used to say that this card would be you. That it would be who you grew into. From the Page to the King."

I hadn't known much about the tarot cards, but I did know that certain cards could represent people. My mother often reserved pages for young girls and knights for young boys. Kings and Queens were obvious. Well, at least I thought they were. Of the Coins, Swords, Wands, and Cups, Cups were considered the most emotional and patient. I remember that Mom told me that she thought I was destined for greatness. But that's just something that people tell their kids, right?

"Take the card. And remember when you get to the forcefield that surrounds the kingdom, that you are a King and you belong in a castle."

I took the card from her, confused, putting it into my pocket as I hopped off of the table.

She gave me another hug. “Go on, Evelyn. You have an event to get to.”

I said goodbye to the office for what felt like the last time as I headed out. My body was relaxed and I knew that I would be free to think clearly thanks to the injection. 

The drive back to the Mason household felt long. It seemed like there was a lot to think about when there actually wasn’t. The Run would begin at sundown. An hour before it started, we would be carted to our starting place by a pair of Selk Elders and kept there until the Run started. Every starting point was twenty miles away from the castle and that meant every Runner-Assistant team would start off equally. 

I didn’t know if Lakhar wanted to avoid conflict for as long as possible or to simple dive into it and get rid of the other as fast as possible. It hardly mattered, however. I would have to be ready to kill anyone that got in the way. I had to remember that no what, only Lakhar could survive if I wanted him to be King.

I arrived back at the Mason house just before ten and saw my father’s car in the driveway. Stepping out curiously, I headed into the household. 

I knocked on the door and was let in by Micah. I followed him to the kitchen, noticing that he was dressed in a nice pair of trousers and a button-up shirt. His usually long, messy hair, was combed to the side and gathered behind him in a pony-tail.

“Why are you dressed so nicely?” I asked, unable to stop myself. I was impressed.

He looked at me and scoffed. “I think the real question is why you aren’t,” he said. “You’re the only about to be on TV and you look like you slept in those clothes. I should hear a ‘thank you’ for saving your life and bringing over a dress for you to wear.”

It annoyed me that Micah and Dad had considered my clothes before I did. And when I stepped into the kitchen, I saw my Dad sitting at the table with the Masons in a suit, along with several other Selks that I was sure I had met the night before, but didn’t recognize. Lahkar was in a lively conversation with a Selk with bright pink skin.

“Welcome back, Evelyn,” Regna said with a happy trill. “Your father and brother graced us with their presence while you were visiting your doctor.”

Dad didn’t look thrilled to be sitting there. He looked slightly awkward to be sitting at a table of Selks. He was dressed in a nice, lilac button down and a pair of black slacks. Dad nodded for me to come over to him, which I obliged, sitting in a chair next to him.

“This is a surprise,” he muttered. “You seemed pretty distracted over the hologram last night.”

I winced. Dad had been yelling the night before. Announcing that I was Running with Lakhar meant that I had to. I was legally bound to assist in his Run, if I backed away now, I would be arrested as a traitor to the Kingdom. I had no intention of backing out of a Run, but my father wasn’t as excited about it as everyone else seemed to be. I suppose he had reason to be a bit upset with me for making such a snap decision.

“Don’t worry about it, Dad,” I said softly. “It’s going to be fine. No one is going to worry about little old me.” I nodded over to Lakhar. “He has much more to worry about than I do.”

He shook his head. “That isn’t what I mean, Evelyn.” He reached over and took my hand from its place on my lap. “It’s that we just lost your mother and now we’re losing you t—”

He went silent and pulled away from my hand, going to cover his mouth. 

This caught the attention of the people around us and I immediately felt hopeless. My mouth fell open and I stuttered a few words before hugging him. Part of me was wounded that he didn’t believe enough in me to get through the Run alive, but the other part of me understood. He was scared he was saying goodbye to someone else important in his life.

“This isn’t a suicide, Mr. Reed,” sounded Vesran’s voice. 

My father raised his head to look at him. “Maybe a Selk doesn’t see it that way, but what chance does she honestly have?” There was a growl in my dad’s voice that I hadn’t heard before. I felt my body tense at the sound of it. “She’s human. He’s probably going to get rid of her on his way there to the castle. Whatever, just another stepping stone for your son, huh?”

Regna’s face colored angrily. “Lakhar loves your daughter, Mr. Reed,” she chirped. “He’d never let anything happen to her.”

I ducked my head. I should’ve known that this was going to happen. I blushed brightly and ventured a glance at Lakhar, who had silenced his conversation and glanced over to me. 

I removed my gaze again and pretended that I hadn’t heard Regna Mason’s use of the word ‘love’ to describe Lakhar’s feelings toward me. 

“Dad, I made my choice. I offered to go on the Run with him.” I ventured a small glance to Lakhar before turning my attention solely to my father. “I love him too and I want to see him succeed.”

My father’s face turned red. “His life isn’t more important than yours, Evelyn,” he hissed. “Don’t do this because our Selk Overlords said you have to.”

I shook my head. “I’m doing it because I want to. Like I said, I offered to Run with him before he was even chosen. I believe that he can win and I promise to make it through.”

“I’ve promised to marry her at the end of the Run.” 

All heads turned toward Lakhar, noises of astonishment rang through the room. I couldn't lie and say that I wasn't surprised. We'd known each other for so long, but Lakhar had never mentioned anything close to marriage to me before this moment. I was more than excited to hear this, but...

“You’re kidding me,” Micah said. He looked at me. “You said you were convinced he wouldn't!"

My face lit up and I looked at him, dumbfounded for an explanation. Surely, he had one.

“On the roof, before I was Chosen, I promised that she and I would be married when I made it to the throne. It’ll be the first celebration that we can give the kingdom together.”

My father’s face eased up at the announcement. “Then you promise to keep your fiancée safe,” he muttered. “If you survive and she doesn’t—”

“It isn’t going to happen!” I interrupted. “We’re going to make it through and then we’re going to plan a wedding.” I didn’t know what I was saying right now, all I knew was that I wanted my dad to stop worrying. Lakhar had simply said that to calm my family and his of any fears they had. We would live because we made a promise to spend our lives together.

Before I knew it, Lakhar was at my side and he had his arm wrapped around my waist. I could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on me and I began to wonder when he had told his parents of his plans as they didn’t look as shocked as my father and brother or the other Selk relatives. Maybe they had been the ones to encourage him to marry me. 

He ushered me toward the door, his free arm taking the stack of clothes from my brother. “Come Evelyn, we need to go dress for the Ceremony,” he said softly.

The way he spoke sounded so different now. His voice sounded gruffer. I stared into the eye that remained open on his forehead and wondered if that had something to do with it. Either way, his voice was no longer the song that I was so used to hearing.

Once we were safely and privately in his room, I took my clothes from him and hugged them to my chest. Questions floated through my head as I averted my gaze, listening to the sound of the clothes hitting the floor.

“I was serious when I said that we’d be married, Evelyn,” he said. “That is, if you want to be married after this. It would be perfectly understandable if you would want to continue our relationship as it is.”

I hugged the clothing tighter. I hadn’t considered marriage with anyone, let along Lakhar. I hadn’t dated anyone long enough to know if I wanted to spend the rest of my life with them. I had fantasized about marrying him. I imagined him proposing after we finished college together and getting a small house to spend the rest of our days together.

Proposing was a good way to get me fired up about getting the both of us through the Run together. And it didn't hurt that when he won, he would be Ruler and I would be the Ruler's wife.

I tried not to think about details as I slipped into his bathroom to change. Like the fact that I wouldn’t be able to live with him inside of the Palace or the fact that I wouldn’t be allowed to know how his days were spent, or that we wouldn’t be able to have children with each other. Instead I dressed silently and let the thought settle in my mind, looking at it more as a political marriage. That’s what it would be, wouldn’t it? Everyone would see us as a team and it would send a message if we both made it through together and ended up getting married in the end. Was that he was trying to achieve?

I exited the bathroom wearing the floral patterned dress that my brother had brought. It was a little too tight, but it would have to work. It had been one of my mother’s old dresses that I had taken. Big on her, but small on me and I wore it every now and then when I missed her. I felt my chest tighten at Micah’s consideration. I did owe him a big Thank You. If I died during the Run, I wanted to be buried in this dress.

Glancing up, I saw Lakhar wearing something traditionally Selk. Traditional Selk clothing was little more than decorative robes that covered the body from the neck down. They were also made from a polymer that wasn’t grown on the Earth, but was soft and springy to the touch, but the color of the material was always something that human eyes couldn't focus on. It was brought to them by the tons occasionally when new Selks arrived from wherever they came from.

Another thing I knew nothing about. Where Selks came from. No human did. For us, centuries ago, they were just here one day. Our ancestors didn’t know if they came from the sky or from the Earth, but they still came and went from these places. The theory that our ancestors had was simply that they were transdimensional beings, arriving at a fixed point through a wormhole. We never had the chance to prove it and the Selks haven’t allowed us to learn their secrets for travel.

“What do you think?” he asked, holding his arms out.

I’d never touched the Selk robes before. I’d seen them being worn on occasion, Selks didn’t wear them out very often, it set them too far apart from us.

I reached out and ran my fingers along the fibers, focused on the design that had been put into the cloth. It hadn’t been stitched in or dyed. It played along my fingers and I closed my eyes, feeling the color.

Then I felt it bite me.

I jerked back my hand and looked at him. I started to ask a question but it vanished from my lips. It had been a strange shock to my fingers that I hadn't liked. But I was left with the color purple.

“Are you okay?”

I looked to him and nodded. “Peachy,” I said. “I don’t like the way it feels on my fingers,” I muttered.

“The material speaks to Selks,” he said, rubbing where I had just touched, smoothing it out. “It must’ve tried to speak with you.” He chuckled. “My apologies, I didn’t know humans were that sensitive.”

I nodded. “The color, right? Is that what it tells you? So you can see it?”

Lakhar’a lips perked into a smile. “Yes, how did you know?”

“It tried to tell me, but I didn’t like the way it felt,” I muttered, deciding against telling him that I had heard the color. “It must feel more welcoming to you.”

Lakhar gave a pensive look before nodded. “Well, come along, Evelyn. We must hurry to the Ceremony. Our families need to get ready to stay home for the Run."

Saying goodbye to my father was much harder than I thought. We stood together in the Mason's kitchen for a long time not speaking before he pulled me into a warm hug. 

"Your mother would've been so proud and happy for you," he said softly. "She was always so interested in Selks." He pulled away and kissed my forehead. "Sometimes I wondered why she married me instead of her highschool sweetheart. She used to date Selks too, you know. Though, she didn't decide to go on Runs with them."

"Don't worry, Dad," I said softly. "I'm going to make it home. He's going to win and everything is going okay."

He just continued to frown as a tear came to his eyes. "They're beasts, Evelyn. That damn boyfriend of yours shouldn't have let you join him. He knows how dangerous it is. If he actually cared about you, he would've let you stay home. And even if he wins, nothing's going to change for us. We're their slaves."

Micah scoffed and pushed my dad out of the way. "Well, it's too late to change it now." He gave me a hug so tight that it pushed all the air from my lungs. "If you don't make it back, I'm throwing all of your stuff to the wolves and making your room my game room."

Dad sighed. "When you get to the Castle, Evelyn, don't touch the forcefield. Just stay away from it."

We gave each other quick parting hugs and I said my goodbyes to the Masons before we headed out the door together.


	6. Chapter 6

The drive to the Ceremony took longer than expected, we were the last pair to arrive. The building that it was being held in was the sporting stadium Downtown. It was mainly used for sporting events, but had a huge stage that could be put together in the center for concerts.

Behind the stage was calm. A female Selk with an earpiece approached the two of us and gave a deep bow to Lakhar. When she stood, I saw how wide her eyes were as she slowly raised to meet the third eye on Lakhar’s forehead. 

“Welcome Running Pair Seven,” she trilled, breaking the contact with the eye before looking over the two of us. “My name is Nambi and I am your designated assistant for the evening.” Nambi was several inches taller than me, putting her just shy of six feet. She had a light pink skin and a long nose that came to a curved point and a sharp smile. Slightly darker pink hair framed her face in a bob. I frowned and shifted slightly as she pointed to a line in Selky on her on her clipboard to Lakhar , who nodded, before continuing. “Right this way,” she said. 

We followed her into what I assumed was a dressing room. Elrad wasn’t the biggest kingdom in the country, but we were large enough to garner our own news station and radio stations. The Ceremony was going to be covered by the television station and would be broadcast all over the country. It was a big deal when a new king was being Chosen and the process was a little different for each kingdom. 

It was always a spectacle to see what another kimgdom did differently.

Nambi seated the two of us in chairs before mirrors when a group of Selk makeup artists descended upon us. I understood nothing that was happening, just that suddenly the makeup I had put on was being wiped off in favor of the Selk cosmetics that were being applied to my face. Selk colors never matched my skin tone, which is why I never used it, but somehow the makeup artists were blending just the right colors for me.

When they backed away from me, my skin had a glow to it. I leaned forward to touch my face when a hand stopped me. 

“Ah, ah!” a voice chided. I looked at the male Selk who held my wrist and glared. “You’ve got to let it dry.” He used my hand to pull me out of the chair before spinning me around to look at my dress. 

“This is what you want to wear? It’s a little tight isn’t it?”

I jerked my hand away from him and narrowed my gaze. “It looks fine on me,” I growled. 

“I could alter it for you,” he shrugged, running a long, thin finger along the hem of the dress that ran along the side of my body. “Modernize it a little and give a better fit. It wouldn’t take long.”

I stepped back, looking around for Lakhar, he was nowhere to be found or anyone else I knew for that matter.

“The dress is fine, I look fine, don’t touch it. Where do I need to go?”

Nambi reappeared a second later with a smile. “We’re ready for you, Ms. Reed,” she said, offering her hand to me. I looked at the Selk male that was to my right and hurriedly stepped away. “Lakhar is meeting with one of the Elders right now, I’m going to take you to meet the other Assistants and the coordinator is going to go over what is expected of you during the Ceremony and what you’re going to have to say.”

I followed Nambi to a large waiting room that was filled with nine others. I blinked when I saw the other human that would be making the run, his face being the only one that really stuck with me when I looked at the photos of the Assistants the night before. I didn’t remember any names, I suddenly realized, and hardly any of the faces. I didn’t want to embarrass myself by pulling them up on my bracelet to identify them, but I also felt they might take it rude to ask their names again. 

But they were all here. The other human, a male. The rest Selk, a mixture of male and female. The one that stood out the most to me was a rather large man that didn’t look like he fell within the age range due to the weathered look and large muscular build he sported. It was strange to see a Selk so muscular. It was simply unneeded in our society. Perhaps he had been readying himself were he chosen?

Another eye catcher was a young man with pink skin. I recognized them as being the Assistant for the Runner that was only a few blocks away from my house. Pair one. 

I wasn’t going to have time to remember all these names, faces and numbers would help. Don’t make it personal. If you get to know them too well, it makes the fact that some of them are going to have to die harder and they probably wouldn’t hesitate a moment to kill me if it meant getting their own Runner to the throne as the last survivor.

Nambi was gone before I could ask her what I was to do and I stood awkwardly by the door before moving slowly to the water cooler in a corner. The room was warmly decorated. I assumed it was some kind of green room where people rested before events, couches lined the walls and there was a quiet ambiance of music that wafted through the chatter in the room.

A voice caught my attention as I was filling the paper cup in my hand. I hadn’t taken in the faces, so when I turned to see a female Selk before me, my eyes widened in surprise.

“You’re the female human running with Lakhar Mason,” a voice chimed to my left.

She was nearly my height and her skin was a cappuccino, her hair was a platinum blonde, kept in a ponytail. Her eyes were wide and lilac and her smile was bright. Before I could confirm or deny, she held her hand out and shook mine. 

“My name’s Perla,” she said, shaking my hand rigorously. “I’m running with my friend, Amya,” she smiled. “It’s interesting that there are two humans running,” she smiled.  
I cleared my throat and nodded. “Uhm, yeah. I thought so too. I mean… there’s a lot of disadvantages to human partners,” I said, my voice hardly higher than a mutter. 

“Lakhar and I knew each other from a few social projects we worked on in High School,” she said. “He mostly kept to himself. Even for a Selk, it’s obvious that he isn’t social.” She smiled. “He must really like you if he trusts you enough to bring you along versus running alone.”

“We’re dating,” I said, feeling as though she was trying to tug information from me without explicitly asking any questions. She offered up information and she expected me to do the same. “Isn’t it obvious that you have to trust the person that you want to bring along?”

She shook her head. “No,” she said plainly. “Runners are allowed to bring whoever they want with them as long as they fall within the age range. Assistants don’t really have a choice.” She shrugged. “It’s a death sentence to kill your own Runner, but Runners have been known to use the opportunity to kill their assistants.”

I swallowed thickly. Kill their assistants? What purpose would that serve for the Runner? Suddenly their help was gone by their own hand. Unless they didn’t like the person beforehand enough to get rid of them?

My head was swimming with thoughts and she could see it.

“Don’t think too hard about it. He wanted you to be his Assistant, so you got the job.” She stretched and looked around at the crowd. “I grew up with most of these people,” she said softly. “We went to the same primary school. Lakhar is the only person that I really have no clue about. It’s rare that someone from another kingdom is Chosen to make the Run for Leader.”

“Has it ever happened before?”

Perla shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s rare. It hasn’t happened in centuries.” She gave me a wink. "Some people may gun for him for that."

I nodded and took a long sip of water. I felt like I should be taking in information about the people around me. I should be mingling like Perla was in order to gain a little information about the people that were going to soon be trying to kill me. But I was frozen to my place by the water cooler. I didn’t know how to be smooth or how to draw information out of people with smiles and purrs. I also wasn't a fan of the playful threat I had jut received.

“You’re awfully quiet,” a voice sounded. “That isn’t very like you, Evelyn. Is Perla scaring you?”

I glanced up and saw Reshmi and my eyes widened. Reshmi and I had gone to high school together, along with Lakhar. He gave me a friendly smile and I felt my body relax. I had forgotten that he would be here.

“I’m being nice,” Perla keened. “I just want to know about our odd pair. A foreign Selk and his human Assistant? It’s interesting!”

I noticed immediately that she was speaking in English for my benefit. She wanted me to know that they were talking about and she was offering an opportunity to hop in. Perla actually was interested in me.

"What's even more interesting is the quarrel between your Runners!" a Selk chimed in. "Esylit and Amya's families hate each other!" The Selk nudged the both of them before walking away.

Perla and Reshmi gave each other an uncomfortable glance as the Selk laughed and walked back to the door. His badge said his name was Akoo and he was a stage manager. How unprofessional.

“Who is everyone?” I asked finally, sensing the discomfort. I shifted a little closer to Reshmi, a handsome Selk with pale green skin and curly brown hair. His most defining feature was his large, flat nose that came to a sharp point. He and I had graduated together but had run in different crowds.

Reshmi smiled and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “I’ll go in order of how they were announced.” He pointed first to a severely faced Selk with a buzzcut and pink skin, “Roz. His Runner is Eton. You’ve never met them.” He nodded at Perla. “Perla and her Runner Amya were announced second.” He then turned me bodily to face a tall thin Selk with bright green hair and brown skin. “His name is Meta,” he said, “His Runner is Ashling. Third.” Next came the muscular Selk, bigger than any Selk I had seen before. “The big guy’s name is Gustu. He and his Runner, Lotte, are from the farming communities outside of the city.” He pointed to a violet-haired Selk girl conversing with Roz. “Her name is Reveka. She and her Runner Narcisse actually live fairly close to Lakhar.” 

I studied Reveka’s face for a moment. I recognized her for a moment, but I wasn’t sure from where and I couldn’t remember Narcisse’s face at the moment. But they were close to where Lakhar and I had been, I had seen Narcisse rise into the air last night.

“The group over there,” he said, nodding to a group of three by a set of couches consisted of two Selks and the other human. “Joska, the young woman with the red hair, her Runner is Paraskeve, Sibeal, the brunette, her Runner is Panora, and the human is Benji and his Runner is Illion.” He smiled. “And I was announced last. I’m running with Esylit.”

The names and faces were swimming in my head. Reshmi had told me all of them in order as though the order mattered, but I knew there was no way that I was going to remember them all. Reshmi was last, we were seventh and Perla was second. The Selks close to Lakhar’s house were fifth. I don’t think I was going to be able to remember more than that. Whatever it was, I hoped it was enough.

“Thanks, Reshmi,” I said. “Why are we all here together?”

He shrugged. “The Assistants aren’t really the important part of the Ceremony. The Runners are praying with the Council of Elders in another room. They’ve been proven worthy to Run, the Elders have to make sure their intentions are pure.”

Lakhar was in a secret ceremony with the Elders before the public ceremony that was held before the people of the Elrad. The private ceremony was another thing that I was never allowed to know, but at least most Selks weren’t allowed to know it either.

“What do I need to know for the Ceremony on stage?”

Perla shrugged. “You’ll have to tell them your weapon of choice, there’ll be an abundance to choose from, but you may only keep one. Then that’s about it for you, you’ll get to make a brief introduction of yourself and then we’ll be taken to designated starting points that put us all at the same distance away. We’ll begin at sun down.”

I frowned. “When did all of this get explained?”

Reshmi laughed. “You’re late to the party, someone came by and explained all of this to us already. You were supposed to be here an hour ago.”

I hadn’t realized we were late. Going to the Doctor had probably made us late, but I had to go. There was no way I would’ve been useful during the Run if I was also dealing with splitting migraines. I had to be useful now that I was obligated to do this.

“Have they captured the traitor?” I asked them.

Perla pursed her lips and shook her head. “No. The official order is to kill him on sight if he’s seen. He’s most likely armed himself and is going to lie low during the Run, if he’s aware it’s happening. 

There’s a chance he may have already made it over the border into the next kingdom.”

“He hasn’t been seen since he managed to escape,” Reshmi said. “There’s no sign of him.” He scoffed softly. “Either way, it doesn’t matter. I’m not going to let that traitorous creature interrupt Esylit’s Run. If he’s still here, his smartest decision is to make an escape while the police are unable to search for him.”

I nodded slowly. I wasn’t sure what traitorous thing that this Selk had done, but the distaste that other Selks held for him was palatable. I held back the fact that Lakhar had known him personally in their old Kingdom. These were things that they didn’t need to know and I’m positive that Lakhar had told me that in confidence. Besides, it would only be chatter that the other Assistants would talk about while we waited for whatever ceremony that was happening to end. I didn’t want to give out anything extra.

Reshmi walked over to a nearby to grab and Perla joined him, leaving me momentarily alone. I took another look around the room and focused in on Reveka once more. I knew her, but I didn’t know how. Her face was familiar—

And then it hit me. Our mothers were friends. Reveka and I had played a few times when we were younger, but her mother had insisted that she go to another school across the kingdom despite being zoned for the same highschool as Lakhar and me.

I swallowed thickly as I slowly walked over to her. Her mother and mine had been friends. They had played cards while we played in other rooms with crayons. Reveka socialized me to Selks and I socialized her to humans. I remember once, specifically, she had tried to teach me the Selk word for 'game', but one of the Selk mothers walked in and stopped her before she could speak it.

I thought about the games that our mothers played and realized that I didn’t really remember too much about them. We were never allowed to be in the same rooms as the adults. After a while, the other kids stopped going and I stopped being curious about their games. The law said Human and Selk children under a certain age weren't allowed to socialize anyway.

“Hi Reveka.” My voice shook a little as I stood behind her.

She turned to me with the vacant stare on her face that a lot of Selks held before I saw recognition glitter across her face. “Evelyn,” she said. “My mother told me to wish you luck in your quest with Lakhar Mason. She also told me to offer condolences for your mother."

Giving a nod, I pressed my weight from food to food. None of the Selks that my mother had played games with had showed up to the funeral. “So, it’s crazy that you’re doing the Run too.” 

She didn’t answer immediately. She studied my face for a moment instead and I studied hers. She was beautiful, more so than the average Selk. Her hair shines and her eyes were the perfect almond shape. Her nose was small but wide and her lips were plump. “I see you share your mother’s affinity for Selk company. I hear that you and Lakhar have been close friends for several years.” Her words felt kind of cold, almost as though she felt forced to talk to me.

I forced a smile and nodded. Far be it from me to force her into a conversation she didn't want to have. “Well, just thought I’d say hello.”

I turned to leave when I heard her voice again.

“Evelyn?”

“Yes?” I asked, looking back at her.

“You do know that our parents weren’t playing card games when they met up, don’t you?”

My mouth fell open and I tried to defend the fact they had been. My mother had been teaching them human card games. I remember Mom and Dad discussing poker and bridge.

“Your confusion tells me that you don’t know what I’m talking about.” She folded her arms under chest. She gave a few cautious looks to the people around her before she took a few steps toward her. "I suppose now would be the best time to tell you."

Reveka had something to tell me. I felt my heartbeat in my throat.

"Alright, everyone!" Nambi called.

She walked into the room clutching a clipboard, several Selks at her side. She spoke an announcement to the room in Selk as I looked back imploringly to Reveka.

Reveka's face became impassive as she listened to what Nambi had to say. She gave me a small glance. "I'm sorry, Evelyn. They weren't games. I don't have time to explain now. If you ever have the chance, talk to Doctor Ashford about it."

I felt the color drain from my face. She knew my niche doctor? I ignored the announcement that Nambi was making and reached out and grabbed Reveka's shoulder tightly, attempting to gain her attention again.

"Evelyn! Did you hear me?"

I gritted my teeth and let her go. Reveka quickly moved out of my grasp. "No. I didn't."

Nambi rolled her eyes and muttered something in Selky before she approached me. "Is everything okay?"

I glanced to Reveka and cleared my throat. "Everything is fine."

Nambi floated back to the front of the room. 

“We’re going to move to go back to our rooms. Each Selk will come out in pairs to introduce themselves and get a weapon.” She gave a pleasant smile before she turned and headed toward the stage. 

I hesitated for a moment, watching everyone else file out of the room ahead of me before I followed after them. I wanted to talk to Reveka, but it would be too suspicious to try to talk to her now. Whatever she was going to tell me was probably illegal. It had to be for her to try to dismiss me so easily. I wondered wildly what she could've told me. What could it have been instead of games?


	7. Chapter 7

Leaving the room was hard. I saw a line of the Runners. Behind the stage was dark, but I realized pretty quickly that they were lined up in the order that they had been revealed. I wondered briefly if the order mattered at all to the Selk. That was one question that I hadn’t thought to ask last night when I was spending time with the Mason family.

I heaved a sigh as I was shown the door to the room that Lakhar and I had been taken to when we arrived. He was already waiting, stretched out over a couch. He looked at me and smiled when the door was shut behind me and locked. 

“How was the private Ceremony?” I asked, climbing into an armchair that was placed across from him.

“Long,” he muttered softly, eyes focused on the roof above him. “Our starting place is a good one.” The change of subject didn’t evade my notice. I knew that he wouldn’t be able to talk about the details, so I brushed it off.

“Really? Where are we starting?” 

“The woods close to my home. Runners start twenty miles from the kingdom and then we go. We’ll be close to the river. It’s almost a straight path to the castle.”

I nodded. There was a walking path that ran along the River, it ran straight into Downtown and there was plenty of coverage in the forest. “How long do you think it’ll take us to make it to the castle? Twenty miles is a long way to travel without transportation.”

“No more than eight hours if we don’t stop and take minimal breaks. Faster if we run part of the way, which I intend to.”

“What about the other Runners and Assistants? If we don’t cross paths with them, when are we supposed to… kill them? It doesn’t matter how fast we get to there, we still have to go after them. I need to be as helpful as possible before you go through the barrier.”

He looked at me for a moment before opting to move from the lying position to a sitting one. “We just have to get there first,” he answer simply.

I gave an exasperated sigh. That was easier said than done. The other Selks would probably run there and get there long before we would. Picking me was a disaster. Why would he burden himself like this instead of making the Run alone?

A warm hand on my knee brought my attention back to Lakhar.

“Stop worrying about it,” he said, leaning over from the couch. “We’re going to make it. I have faith that we are.” He put his hand to my cheek. “I need you to start believing that we will as well.”  
There was a knock at the door with a shout of Selky and he pulled his hand away. He offered his hand to me and I joined him before he walked over to the door.

"Five minutes," he said. He adjusted the traditional clothes before he leaned over and kissed me. 

I relaxed into the kiss and smiled. I hadn't kissed him since he had been Chosen. It was still just as comforting as it had been before, just as simple.

He pulled away and placed two fingers over his lips. A Selk symbol of giving their word. "I swear that you will live through the Run if you listen to me, Evelyn. You'll listen to me. When we go out on the stage, get a lightweight melee weapon. You won't be able to handle anything else."

I nodded without hesitation. I would listen to him. He swore that I would live. I had to trust in whatever he told me. He would look out for me.

Besides, a melee weapon would be best. There were only certain weapons allowed during the Run. Melee weapons, mainly. The only thing outside of melee would be bow and arrow and I didn't know how to shoot. Weapons that used ammunition and chemicals of any kind were forbidden to use. Anything that caused burns or fire were forbidden. There had been cases of a Selk or Human smuggling in an illegal weapon that resulted in that person's death. There had even been a king of another kingdom centuries ago that had been beheaded due to using a gun during his Run.

The stage was huge. I had been to the place a few times before to see a few concerts and plays, but I had never been on the stage. It was warmly decorated. There were bows and garlands everywhere as well as a cleared space above us to screen everything to the people that were already beginning to fill the stadium, the gentle roars already beginning to fill my ears. 

I hurried to Lakhar’s side once we were on the stage. I saw that the eye on his forehead was still widely opened. It was still a spectacle. The pupil in the eye was slit and it was so widely opened that the skin puckered around it. It shared the color as his other eyes. I had an itching question to know if he could see through it, but I knew that he couldn’t. Despite looking like a functioning eye, it was blind to sight. I had heard that the eye sensed people, saw the auras of the people around the Selk for whom it was open. 

The lights around us dimmed and suddenly the curtains were being pulled open. I watched as a single spotlight ran across the stage, following the local news anchor who was hosting the event. It was a Selk who sported white skin and silver hair that went by the name Radcliff Rogers.

I winced when I was blinded by the light. I shielded my eyes for a second before dropping my hand. The lights made it impossible to see our in the sea of empty chairs of the stadium, but I knew the entire kingdom would tune in to watch. 

“This is Team Seven!” Radcliff said, bringing the charming smile that he brought to each news report. "Wecome Runner Lakhar Mason and Assistant Evelyn Reed!"

“And seventh announced is the most talked about Runner. Lakhar Mason and his Assistant Evelyn Reed.” He held the microphone to Lakhair’s mouth and smiled. 

Lakhar cleared his throat. “It is true that I was not born and raised within this kingdom, but I have taken my vows of loyalty and when I make it to the throne as King, I will happily give my life to the people of Elrad.” He nodded toward me. “I already have my queen picked out.”

My face heated immediately. I looked desperately between Lakhar and Radcliff.

“Marriage! We’re in for a royal wedding if Seven is to survive and make it to the throne!” He smiled and turned to me. “Now, Evelynn. A little about yourself. You’re running with your best friend and fiancée. How does that make you feel?”

“Proud?”

Radcliff nodded. "Proud is a great word! It isn't often that a human is allowed to Assist! Good for you, Evelyn Reed!"

Embarrassment clouded my thoughts as I gave a shaky smile and took Radcliff’s jabs. He cleared his throat and had us choose a weapon.

Lakhar looked over the choices and finally decided upon a long thin sword. I had a feeling it was much heavier than it looked. Selk-made steel was always heavier than it seemed.

When it was my turn, I poured over the weapons. Every one of them was capable of quickly injuring someone or rendering them dead. Most would be too heavy and too many of them required accuracy. I winced and pointed at a steel baseball bat that was propped against one of the tables. Portable and I wouldn’t have to worry about pulling it out of someone’s body once it had been lodged inside of him. It also silenced the ringing reminder in my head that Lakhar had told me to get a melee weapon.

“The baseball bat?” I said shakily into the microphone. 

A Selk woman moved to remove both Lakhar's sword and my bat from the pile of weapons.

"A sword and a bat! I wouldn't want to run into either of you!" Radcliff grinned. "And thank you very much for letter the Kingdom meet you before the Run!" He nodded in the direction of the opposite side of the stage that we entered on and we left.

As we left, we were moved back stage. The pairs were pulled into different room where we would wait until it was time to move us to our starting point. By nightfall tomorrow, the Run was surely going to be over and, with hope, Lakhar and I would both still be alive.

I watched as Lakhar took a seat in a plush chair and pulled his knees against his chest. I walked toward the door and peeped outside, seeing immediately that the door was guarded. I stepped back and shut the door and looked to Lakhar.

“Why are there guards?”

“Because we are much more likely to be murdered now while the masses are being moved back to their homes,” he said plainly. “They’ve met us, they know who they’re rooting for, and we have to be kept safe until everyone is locked in their homes.”

I frowned, realizing that my family was being pushed back to our house and I wouldn’t be able to see my dad or my brother again before we started the Run.

“You’re still able to call your family,” he said, almost reading my mind. “You’ll still have you communication bracelet until we’re ready to leave.”

I gave a small nod and pulled it out, sending a message to Micah to call me once they were safely settled into our house. They hadn’t answered when I called, so I knew that they were being rushed.  
The dress I was wearing wouldn't do for the Run. It was a little tight and I couldn't imagine running for hours in it. Not only that, but I didn't want to ruin the dress during the Run. It meant too much to me. I needed something else to wear.

"Are there other clothes that we can wear for this?" I asked softly. 

Lakhar glanced up to me and nodded. "Yes."

He stood and walked to a cabinet and opened it, revealing several gray cotton sweatsuits. I winced when I saw them. It would make the Run a little hotter than it needed to be but at least they weren't a more dense material. 

Pulling one out that was my size, I placed it aside and looked back to Lakhar.

"Unzip me?"

He moved behind me and did as I asked, I shivered as the air hit my skin. I felt a little self conscious as I pulled the slightly-too tight dress down my body. I found the tarot card that Dr. Ashford had given me and folded it, tucking it into my pocket.

I paused when I felt Lakhar wrap his arms around me. This was something that he did often, held me, but it felt more intimate now, more meaningful. I suppose impending doom made things seem more important.

"It's going to be okay. I can feel how stressed you are," Lakhar said, his voice still rumbling, sounding as though rocks were caught in his throat. He gave my bare shoulder a feathery kiss.  
He pulled away from me and pulled out his own set of clothes, beginning to change. At least I wouldn't be alone in my new duds. 

I settled into the large, overstuffed couch and waited. I didn’t know what to expect, but the wait continued on. My eyes wandered to Lakhar and to his eyes. I wondered why their eyes opened when they were chosen. They didn’t have to. Glowing would’ve served the exact same purpose. Maybe their bodies knew they had a big chance of dying.

 

When we were finally loaded into the cars to move to our starting places, I felt frantic. I had tried to call my father and brother, but I received no answer from them. Would communication be down during the Run as well? I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to take my bracelet with me on the run. The other would be able to track us with the GPS inside of them and even though we would be blind to the other groups, they would be blind to us as well.

There was still a lot about the Run that I didn’t understand that I knew wouldn’t be explained to me because of my species. It all seemed to make perfect sense to Selks. 

Everything about the Run was so ceremonial, but humans were only allowed to know so much about it. The rules of the Run seemed simple. Everyone, of course, was under house arrest. In order to become the Ruler, a Runner had to make it to the Palace and end the lives of everyone else who was Running against him. Assistants were free game and could be killed if they got in the way. Everyone was allowed one hand-made weapon. Other weapons could be foraged from the natural environment around them. If it was discovered that the new Ruler broke any of the rules, they would be executed and another Run would promptly begin. Runners and Assistants are allowed to kill anyone who had decided to ignore the house arrest. The last Runner alive wins, and must pay homage to their fallen Selks and was allowed to take control of the kingdom around them.

I didn’t understand why there were ten Runners, I didn’t understand why there were rituals, why only certain weapons were allowed, why it didn’t matter who the Assistant was or whether or now the Runner had one. I didn’t understand why we weren’t allowed to know.

“Why do we start twenty miles away?” I asked Lakhar as I stepped out of the vehicle. I felt like this bit of information may be afforded to me. 

Lakhar had just been handed his sword and was gripping the handle tightly. He held it before him and closed his eyes, well, his two seeing eyes.

“Twenty miles is the distance set by our ancestors.” He shrugged. “Well, it’s approximately twenty miles. The Selk distance counter we’re using isn’t exact to human measurements.”

“I mean, is there any reason behind it? Did a bunch of old Selk guys just prattle on and say ‘yeah 1000 Selk-meters, good distance to start.”

He arched a brow. “Evelyn… It’s privileged information. Why are you so eager to know? The distance doesn’t matter, the point of the journey is to get to the castle and kill the rest.” He put the sword down, the tip immediately dug into the ground. “It just means that we have twenty extra miles to run into someone and get rid of some of the Runner against us.”

And Assistants, I reminded myself. They probably wouldn’t take their Runner dying with grace. I didn’t know how I would react to Lakhar being wounded, but I pushed it from my mind. I wasn’t going to dwell on it.

I was handed my bat and I weighed it in my hands. I gave it a few practice swings, nearly losing my balance once and hitting one of the Selk helpers by accident.

As the Sun went down, I watched the Selks who had accompanied us to our starting spot leave. I had been told there was a nearby cabin that that must stayed locked in during the Run.

We were left with our weapons and two backpacks that held some supplies. Water, food, flashlights, a pair of shiny stones that Selks required for some reason, and a first aid kit. It wasn’t as though we were going to need all of this. We would have to run straight from here toward the castle. We were given a small GPS device that would allow us the quickest route to the Palace, but I knew we wouldn’t be taking this. It wasn’t safe to Run straight. Others wouldn’t be. Others would be trying to kill some of the competition.

“What are you going to do when you become Ruler?” I asked Lakhar idly as I hoisted a backpack over my shoulders. I watched him do the same thing.

“Marry you. From there, I’m not sure. I’ll have to be briefed on current events and—”

“I meant, is there anything that you want to happen? A goal that you’ll have the power to reach?”

He nodded. “Equality,” he said simply.

I waited for him to expand more, but he didn’t. I had a feeling that he didn’t mean equality between human and Selk. I wondered what equality he meant, but if he wanted me to know, he would’ve already told me.

“Where do we start?” I asked, disappointed and ready to begin. It was almost too dark to see in the woods. We could use the flashlights, but it was make us easily seen.

I felt the same uncomfortable tightness in my chest as he led me to the designated place. I hadn’t talked to my family. My bracelet had been left with the Selks that were currently in the cabin. They would try to contact me and meet with nothing other than a few older Selks that were waiting to see who their new Ruler would be.

Lakhar took my hand as I watched the orange disappear from the sky. I felt my chest tighten as I glanced to him for a moment. The adrenaline was beginning to rise again in my chest and I gripped his hand tightly for a moment.

I closed my eyes as the darkness came all over the forest around us. 

“Evelyn, remember all of those faces that you saw earlier,” he breathed, gripping my hand. “Those are the people that have to die if we want to live.”

And then the alarm sounded.


	8. Chapter 8

I panted as we shot off into the trees before us. The woods were thick and the darkness made it dangerous, but my eyes were quickly adjusting to the lack of light. Lakhar seemed to have no problems dodging the tree roots, but I stumbled every few steps despite the fact that I had better night vision than most. It was just so dark.

I followed his lead, carefully following him as he ran left. That was where the River was. The River was the fastest and easiest way to the Palace. However at one point it meant that all of the paths were going to converge into one as we neared the city.

It still hadn’t hit me that we were going to have to kill. I couldn’t see Lakhar running through someone with the sword, nor could I see myself beating someone to death with the bat that I clutched so tightly in my hands.

“Where are we headed?” I asked, already knowing the answer. I just needed to speak with him. I needed him to take the initiative and lead me. I needed him to relieve the anxiety that was rising in my spine. I didn’t want to feel like that I was running randomly through the woods to my death or how soon it would be before I was faced with the task of killing someone.

“The River. We’re going to have to run toward the castle. The River is too dangerous to take a raft down and we’d be too open for attack. We’re twenty miles castle from our current location and they are no doubt following the same trek. We should meet up with pair Five first.”

Lakhar pulled up his back pack and jogged with me to the tree line that was meters away from the riverbank. I managed to keep pace with him, but I was breathing heavily when he started along the waterside. 

He slowed for my sake, walking beside me.

"We will have to travel faster. I don't mind being the last to arrive, but it increases the chances that we'll walk into a trap."

I swallowed thickly and nodded my head, pacing along beside him on the path just inside the tree line.

It was so strange to see this area with no people. Usually there was security, there were teens on dates, families having get-togethers, kids playing on the playground, dances with bands. Now, there was nothing. 

The only sound that was heard was the slosh of water and the sounds of our feet in the grass. We had wandered close to the water but not out of the tree line. We needed coverage for as long as possible and I knew that the trees stretched into the city limit. 

I didn’t know how long it was going to take us to run the twenty miles to the Castle, but we’d have to go as quickly as possible. Lakhar was right. We couldn’t give the others more time to plot against us or even to reach the throne. If they had all passed the barrier by the time that we reached it, I would be utterly useless to him. 

“You’ll be honored once we win, Evelyn,” Lakhar said. 

“I-I will?” I panted. The last Selk Ruler had had a Selk Assistant that hadn’t survived the Run. Assistants to the Ruler, if they survived, had an extremely high status in the Selk Court. I wondered how that would play out for a Human, since Humans weren’t allowed in the Court at all. A human assistant whose Runner won had never survived the Run.

“Yes. You’re human, you’ll be put in charge of all the goings for your Race. It’ll be a great thing to happen for you and for your people.”

I felt my face flush. Me? Running what was best for humans? I could have a voice and make changes? I felt a strange pang in my chest, wondering if I’d have a real voice or if I’d be a figure head… if I survived. 

“You’re quiet,” he said. He meant to tell me that it was obvious that I was uncomfortable.

“Yeah,” I whispered softly. “I was just thinking.”

I hoped he wasn’t serious. I just wanted things to go back as normal as possible once this was over. Although, I knew that was impossible. We were now engaged and Lakar, if he won, would be Ruler. We’d start planning a wedding, wouldn’t we? I’d be taken to the Kingdom? I didn’t know what to even expect, honestly. Maybe I would die and wouldn’t have to worry about it.

No, I couldn’t think that like. We were going to make it. Lakahr would become the new Ruler and I would be at his side. I would usher in new Human rights and laws and he would rule the Selks.

“We will make it, Evelyn,” he whispered, wrapping an arm around my waist. “But in order to do that, you must believe. You must follow me and voice your concerns, you must lead me while I lead you. If we don’t trust each other, we won’t succeed.”

We met eyes for a moment and I wondered if the moment was as intimate for him as it was for me. For a moment, I was caught up in a romantic fantasy. I leaned against him. For an instant, I could forget that we were running for our lives and that we were the same lovers we had been before he had been Chosen.

“I trust you, Lakhar. Entirely,”

He squeezed me closer for a moment before he pulled away. He gave my forehead a brief kiss before he stepped away. “Now, we’re going to have to run. We’re at a disadvantage right now. The trees provide protection, we’re hidden in the darkness, but your eyes can’t adjust enough to see at the lengths that I can.”

He took my hand but I immediately pulled my hand away, shaking my head. Luckily, my eyesight was better at night than most people’s, and now that we were closer to the park, there were lights that shined into the trees. That was one blessing on my part. I wasn’t going to be entirely useless for him. 

“Don’t worry about it, I can see just fine,” I said, stepping over a clump of tree roots. “Keep going.”

Lakhar paused and turned toward me.

“Repeat after me,” he said. He licked his lips and gave a small mewling sound that emanated from his throat. It sounded like two syllables, soft with several 'sh' sounds.

It was Selky. He wanted me to speak Selky.

I shook my head immediately. “I can’t speak it,” I said, panicked. My mind triggered back to Reveka trying to teach me a Selk word in my living room, to the punishment we both had that I even uttered the word. “It’s illegal. If I don’t die and you don’t make Ruler—”

His face fell. “I thought you just told me that you trusted me entirely.”

I took a deep breath and tried to repeat what he said, whatever it was. It tickled my throat to purr like they did, but I gave a few attempts. Just saying the Selky word wouldn’t get me in trouble, knowing what it meant would.

His face lit and a smile washed over his features. “I suppose that isn’t too bad, it’s rough, but it’s much better than any other human attempt at Selky I’ve heard.”

The urge to ask what it meant came over me, but I squashed it back. The less I knew about that the better. “Why did you teach me that word?” I opted to ask instead.

“I want you to call it out when you need it. It doesn’t have to be very loud, I’ll be able to hear it. It’s for if we’re separated.”

I nodded and repeated the word a few more times, until it sounded natural to me before I started again. “Let’s get going again.”

We started running again. Now it looked like Lakhar was more comfortable to run ahead of me. He didn’t hesitate to run out of my sight line. I was more surprised by my ability to not slow down. I supposed it was the adrenaline that kept me going, my heart racing as I ran through the tree, dodging obstructions in my path alone, listening as carefully as I could for life in the forest around me.

I didn’t know how long I managed to run before I would pause for a break. I didn’t recognize the forest around me, but it felt like I was a long way from home. I wish I still had my bracelet to check the time at the very least, but my aching body told me that I had to have been jogging through the woods for a few hours. The sun was entirely gone and the sky was dark save for the stars that peaked down from above.

My mind was on high alert the entire time. It had been a few hours, yet there had been no running into someone else. Where were the other pairs? Wasn’t this the easiest path to the Kingdom? Why hadn’t we had to combat someone yet? 

“Evelyn!”

I jumped as I looked forward. I spied Lakhar several yards ahead of me. I slowed my pace and panted as I approached him, looking in the direction that he pointed to.

Before me in the distance, I could see two bodies on the ground. Both were lying flat. My brow furled as I tried to take in what had happened and who they were. From this distance, I couldn’t even tell if they were human or Selk. I pursed my lips and jogged forward. 

My eyes widened as I came upon them. Pair Five. Both of them. Reveka and Narcisse. Reveka's violet hair was splayed on the ground, partially covering Narcisse's midnight skin. Their bodies were laying side-by-side and they were still, both of their third eyes open, staring at each other. 

I thought again about what Reveka had told me before we were forced apart. Our mothers hadn’t been playing games. They had been doing something else and now I would never know what it was. It was entirely possible that it was nothing more than chatty conversation between friends, but I had a feeling that it was a little more than that, especially since Reveka had wanted to bring it up at all to me.

Reveka, who laid dead on the ground before me, when she had been alive just a few hours before. Reveka, who I had played with when we were both little girls. Reveka who had tried to teach me my first Selk word. Reveka, the Selk who had had a secret, dead.

The scene looked fresh. The blood was still oozing from their wounds. It looked as though they had both been repeatedly stabbed. Their weapons were nowhere to have been found.   
Whoever had killed them had taken their weapons with them. 

I clutched the bat and immediately moved to shield Lakhar back, he too taking a defensive stance.

“Whoever did this wanted them to be found,” Lakahr breathed, but there was no worry in his words. 

I wondered how he could possibly know that. Was it the sensitivity of his open eye that enhanced his senses or were Selks simply able to feel what others nearby could feel? Or was it just obvious and i didn't see it?

My heart began to race. This was happening too fast. We had only just started the Run a few hours ago and now there was already a dead pair? And who had killed them? As far as I knew there were no closer pairs. It didn’t make sense for someone to back track and kill before continuing on.

Lakhar dropped his weapon. “They aren’t going to come after us. We need to move on,” he said.

I looked at him, terrified, as I watched him start walking away from me. 

“H-how do you know?” I sputtered as I hurried behind him, still hyperaware of my surroundings, searching for this mysterious Selk that could've been out there but wouldn’t come after us. Had an Assistant left his Runner and made his mission to come get rid of others? Was it someone who was taking their lives into their own hands and ignored the house arrest in the city?

“Trust me,” he said, sheathing his sword. He patted my shoulder before he started again, jogging away from me.

And I did. He was right. He had to be right. There was no other explanation. Someone was obviously sending a message to whoever was behind them.

I watched through the dark, listening to the leaves crunch as Lakhar continued on without me. I didn’t like the confusion that I felt and I knew that it was more that he was keeping me in the dark versus simply telling me what his plan was. Surely, this wasn’t some Selk-related forbidden knowledge. But I ignored it. He would tell me if it became important.

I picked up my pace behind Lakhar, trailing behind him. I was listening hard for a sign of life from anywhere in the forest. It was amazing to me that I couldn’t even see the lights of the city yet. Soon we would be running through the streets and soon I would be unable to be of any help to Lakhar.

The silence between us was beginning to bother me. I usually wasn’t a chatty girl, but my nerves were on end. I swallowed thickly and paused. “

“I need a few minutes, Lakhar,” I called, pulling off the pack that I had been carrying. Relief swarmed me with the loss of the added weight. I reached inside and pulled out a bottle of water, tossing one to him when he was closer enough.

He didn’t argue with me. He simple stood before me, patient, and drank the water.

I looked down at my legs and saw that the grey sweats that I had been given were now covered in mud and gunk. I frowned and reached down, swiping at some of the bigger chunks that were there. I was relieved now that I hadn't worn my mother's dress through the Run. I would've ruined it.

I sighed and relaxed back against the tree. My mother had been so kind. I knew that she would’ve been proud of me. She would’ve wished me luck and told me that I should be ruthless, that I shouldn’t come home unless I made it. It would’ve been jokes, but it would’ve put me in the right place to be before the journey. She wouldn’t have cared that I ripped up her old dress in the process, just that I went out and did my best. She would’ve believed in me. She would've reminded me that my place was as a King and that I could learn to behave as such.

“Sorry,” I said softly. “Thank you for the break.” I pulled the backpack back on over my shoulders. “Why haven’t I seen any city lights? We’ve been running for about three hours. All I hear is the River. We’re close to town, aren’t we?”

Lakhar took a few tentative steps around me. “The power is turned off in the entire Kingdom save for some flood lights,” he said. “The future Ruler has a right to privacy during the Run. The lights are low to discourage people from watching from their windows.”

I wondered briefly why it was discouraged for people to watch from their windows. It was briefly because immediately there was a scream in the distance and the two of us were standing and on guard. I was at Lakhar’s back with the bat drawn again.

“Where is it coming from?” I hissed immediately, looking around the dark forest. There was no hint of light, only the scrambling sounds of bodies, a deep man’s voice and what sounded like a young girl. Wait—two men? Were two teams attacking each other nearby? It was definitely the slinky speech of Selk being spoken.

“I’m going to go look,” Lakhar breathed and started toward the ruckus.

I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. “I’m expendable, you’re not,” I said immediately, pushing myself ahead. “They won’t hear me; they’ll be too focused on fighting each other to even sense that I’m there.”

I knew that Lakhar wanted to argue with me on several points, but he didn’t. Instead, he relaxed and lowered his sword.

“Utter the word if you feel like you’re going to be in trouble,” he breathed.

Turning my attention to the nearby cries, I noticed immediately that they were speaking Selky between themselves. I had no idea what was being said, but it didn’t sound like a friendly encounter. I slowed by pace, watching carefully to not draw attention to myself. It was still very early and I didn’t want to draw attention to myself just yet.

The fight, or whatever was happening, was at the top of a hill and I found it very hard to make it up without making sounds. I reached for a tree and gripped it tightly as I slowly made my way up the sharp hill. I realized as I climbed that I was on the edge of a road that followed the River into the Kingdom. That’s where the other groups were going.

Through the darkness, I saw three figures several yards ahead. None of the language was intelligible to me, a lot of hissing and purrs, but I didn’t move. I wanted to see which pairs were fighting each other. I needed to know who would be the next out of the Running.

It took a moment for two of the figures to register, but then it hit me. The Muscular Selk and his Runner. Her name was Lotte. She was small and petite compared to the large an that she had chosen to protect her. I supposed it was a good match for the both of them. I remember the other Selks being put off by his size. It was abnormal for him to have that much muscle mass, even if they did live in the farm lands.

I breathed only through my nose as I slowly edged closer. I was still several yards away when I paused behind bumper that ran along the road. The visage before me was hard to make out. The three figures were still talking, no movement.

Crouching, I waited. The mysterious third person lunged for Lotte, but was blocked by the Muscular Selk. I swallowed thickly as I saw a dim glint of metal, and I assumed that the third person had a knife.   
It bothered me that I had no idea who the third person was. The figure was tall and thin, they had long hair and they were fast. The rest of the detail was lost to me and I thought feverishly as to who met that description that I had met earlier. 

My bat was clutched at my side, I could attack if I needed to, but there was no way I was going to get out of this unscathed if I had to fight the big male Selk. I hoped that they would wrap this up themselves and I could report to Lakhar what had happened.

But that isn't what happened.

I saw Lotte run from the two figures, running into the woods close to me. She was so near that I could see the ringlets of her blonde hair falling over her shoulder and could see the ripped bottoms of the Run sweatsuit. I hitched my breath and attempted to make myself less visible as I watched the two remaining figures begin fighting. The large Selk got several blows in on whoever they were fighting, but it ended rather quickly when the mysterious figure managed leapt onto him and plunged the weapon into his chest, removing it quickly, and stabbing him over and over.

There was a loud gargling sound before the large body slumped over. Lotte cried out and started to hurry away, calling out words in Selk and the mysterious Selk took off after her, running in the direction that I had left Lakhar in.

Panic filled me as I started to yell out the Selky word that I had been taught earlier that night. I needed to make sure that Lakhar was safe. There was no way that I was going to let this person murder him too. Not only that, if the mysterious Selk didn't chase Lakhar, Lotte would go after him simply for the chance to make it into the running as the Ruler. I had to protect him. 

I hurried back to Lakhar as quickly as I could and without drawing attention to myself despite the fact that I had jut been yelling. I could hear Lotte screaming at the Selk that chased her, but I knew nothing else of the situation. I didn't even know where they were or what was happening between them. 

Spotting Lakhar in the distance, I hurried back toward him. Just as I was about to open my mouth and tell him that we needed to hide when Lotte ran onto the scene and immediately ran behind Lakhar, hiding behind him from the other Selk. Loud words came shrieking from her mouth as she clutched onto his sides, hiding from the unknown man.

I reached into my backpack and pulled out a flashlight. shining it on the mysterious person before us as he came to a stop a few yards ahead.

The Selk before me had a long, blue mohawk, a tattooed eye on his forehead, tattooed flames licking the side of his head and down his neck. Blood washed over his sickly pale features. Too much to be only his own. Fear overcame me immediately and I dropped the light. I dove in front of Lakhar, bat in hand. I had to protect him from the traitor. 

"Lakhar, I'll protect you from him," I hissed at the figure before me. "You won't get him."

However, there was a loud, sudden scream behind me that drew my attention away from the traitor.

I froze as I realized the scream came from Lotte. No longer was she being shielded behind Lakhar. Lakhar had killed her. His sword was shoved through her trunk and my eyes widened as he pulled the bloodied blade from her body, giving it one hard shake before using her sweatshirt to clean off the steel as she laid there on the ground, blood bubbling from her mouth before her body slackened. 

I should've been shocked that I had just watched someone die, but I wasn't The threat before me hadn't been neutralized. Lakhar was still in danger. The traitor was obviously in the mood to take out Runners.

I pulled up my bat and yelled at him. But he was must faster than I realized. He didn't flee when I ran at him.

The traitor spun right before I got to him and threw me over his shoulder. I cried out as I landed on the ground, the air being knocked from my lungs. I laid there stunned for a moment as he kicked the bat away. 

"Lakhar," I gaped. "Run."

The traitor straddled me and held a knife against my throat. My hands immediately went to grip his wrist, tugging it away. Damn, he was strong.

"Stop moving, human," a hiss sounded. He pressed the knife closer to my throat. 

From the side of my eyes, I saw that Lakhar hadn't left. He hadn't even tried. He was just standing there, watching the both of us. His sword was still gripped tightly in his hand, but he neither moved to run or help me.

There was a sense of betrayal that he was immediately trying to weigh the need for my release, but I tried not to fault him. It was important that he succeeded in the Run, I would've only have been an extra if I survived. The traitor killing me would've given him ample time to get away. 

"Let her go, Phyre," Lakhar said, sheathing his sword. "We have to keep moving."


	9. Chapter 9

Phyre moved off of me when Lakhar told him to. He hoisted himself off of me and grinned before the pocketed the knife.

"Jealous I was all over your girlfriend?" he grinned.

I groaned as I pulled myself to my feet.

Lakhar went to the traitor's side, looking over the wounds that the muscular Selk had given him. I heard several chiding sounds from Lakhar's mouth as he pulled the first aid kit from his backpack. 

"You're helping him?!" It was impossible to hide the shock from my voice. He ran to the traitor's aid before he came to mine? 

This was the traitor! He had killed Reveka and her Runner along with the muscular Selk. He couldn't be trusted, he was on the run for crimes committed against another kingdom. Lakhar should've killed him then.

"He's been aiding us. Of course, I'm going to help him," Lakhar said plainly, spraying an instant healer on one of the open wounds. 

I let out a whimper. I couldn't understand. "He's a murderer! He's interfering in the Run!"

Lakhar kept his focus on aiding the other Selk. "Just look at him as if he were another Assistant. He's helping us, Evelyn. We have an understanding."

Nothing I could say would matter now. Assistance from someone not a part of the Run was against the rules. It was especially wrong that he knew that a wanted criminal was helping him. Hadn't he just taken an oath to respect the Run?

"He attacked me!" I asked. I didn't know when this had happened. How long had the traitor been a part of it? How had he known where we were starting?

"I see the questions that you want to ask, Evelyn," he said softly, wrapping Phyre's arm with a bandage. "But you have to trust me that this is the right decision."

Standing, I started walking down the path. I didn't care what his reasoning was. It was wrong. He hadn't trusted me enough to tell me that he had even been in contact with the traitor. I had spent the better part of the last thirty-six hours with him, when had he had enough time to leave him home to come into contact with him again? The night before when he had locked himself in his room? When I had gone to the doctor? Before he was revealed to have been a Runner or after? Did his parents know that the traitor was aiding their son's run? If it was discovered that he broke the rules, he would be killed before he would even take the throne.

"Evelyn! Stop!"

I stopped. I hadn't wanted to, but the command Lakhar gave rippled through me and paused my movements. I gripped my hands to my side and stood there, hearing a few whispers in Selky before Lakhar jogged up behind me.

"We were friends at a very difficult time in each others lives," Lakhar said softly. "He isn't a traitor. He's loyal to me at the very least. I have to protect him too. I gave him my word."

My eyes widened. "Protect him? But he's a traitor!"

"Who did he betray? You only know what you've been told, Evelyn."

I sputtered and looked back at the other Selk, who's blue hair hung low in his bruised, dirty face. He looked dangerous. The tattooed eye again stuck out to me. He had blinded his third eye, making him unable to ever be a candidate for Ruler in the kingdom he was born in or would ever move to. He had done something terrible enough to be considered a traitor and arrested--taken to prison to serve his sentence. Selks were usually kinder in punishment to their own.

Besides that, Lakhar had just told me the day before yesterday that they had had a falling out. They had worked through all of their problems in a night? It just seemed so suspicious.  
"What am I supposed to know, Lakhar? I can't trust that he isn't dangerous and going to hurt your bid for the throne. I can't trust him. I don't know him."

"Yo, Lakhar! Did you calm down your girlfriend yet?"

I narrowed my eyes. His voice wasn't beautiful like a Selks. It was gritty and hard on my ears. And he said it in English on purpose. I pulled up my bat. "I should kill him, Lakhar."

"Don't be silly, Evelyn, he end you before you could kill him. Just..." He sighed. "Trust me. I'm doing what I have to. Come--" he reached out and took my hand, "--meet him. He's here to help me just as you are."

I did trust him. Entirely. 

I begrudgingly let Lakhar pull me toward the stranger. Phyre Collins was just standing by Lotte's deceased body, idly looking it over. I noticed that her third eye was shockingly wide. I looked away. I didn't know her, but I would show enough respect not to leer at her dead body.

Phyre grinned at me as I stood before him. I narrowed my eyes and straightened my posture. He was much taller than me. Taller than Lakhar as well. His skin was darker than his photo made him appear, a mocha close to that of Regna Mason. His body was thin and lanky, he looked like he was ready to lash out at any moment. Maybe the latter was a good thing. His hair was a shocking blue color, azure. His hair was long and knotted and his clothing wasn't that of a prisoner, but must've stolen it from somewhere. The thing that stood out most about him however, was his piercing yellow eyes. No amount of self-modification was going to rid him of those.

He held out his hands, I noticed immediately how long his fingers were as I reached out to give it a tentative shake. He looked so very different from every other Selk that I had encountered. None of them littered their bodies with tattoos or gave themselves such outlandish haircuts.

Phyre immediately pulled my knuckles to his lips and kissed them.

"No!" I shouted, jerking away. His lips felt electric on my skin, almost painful.

He chuckled. "It's a pleasure, Evelyn," he said, giving a low bow to me. His voice was hissy and low. It was like Lakhar's was now, rough.

I averted his gaze. Everything about him screamed danger. I had never felt that feeling from a Selk before. It was new and strange. I didn't like this fear.

"Be nice, Phyre," Lakhar muttered. "Evelyn is an indispensable part of my journey. She has to make it through with me too." He reached forward and placed his hand on Phyre's shoulder, gripping it lightly. 

There was an utterance of Selky between him and I narrowed my eyes. The glances that were cast on me by Phyre weren't comforting. 

"We're getting behind," I interrupted, gripping the backpack and turning my attention back to the forest. "You and Phyre may have killed two of the Runners, but there are seven other ones out there and we haven't even made it back into the city yet."

Phyre gave a hissing laugh. "So, ready to kill someone, Evelyn? Do you think you can actually do it?" He asked, walking ahead of me.

"Of course I am!" I growled, marching along, treading behind him as Lakhar followed us. "I understood that ending lives were part of this when I volunteered to be his Assistant!"

Phyre shrugged. "Well, you better hope he wins. They're going to kill you if you survive and he doesn't."

I felt my heart sink and I ignored him. I didn't like Phyre. Now I was possibly spending the last few hours of my life with a traitor.

I made myself scarce by jogging ahead of the two of them as they spoke to each other in Selky. Lakhar's gruff purrs intertwined with Phyre's hissing growls annoyed me more than anything. I wanted to be away from the both of them. Besides, maybe I would run into another pair. There was no doubt in my mind that others would be dead by now. Phyre had killed three and Lakhar had killed one, but I knew Reshmi and Perla were going to be fighting for their lives as well as the lives of their Runners. Besides, even if their Runners did die, they would certainly go on to assist someone else. They were still going to be involved in the Run after all and they would want to be looked upon favorably by whoever managed to get the throne.

Lakhar was far behind me before I finally stopped. I could no longer hear the chatter between the two of them as I stopped for another break. My head was swimming. I would have a lot of questions for a lot of people if I made it out of here alive.

I chugged a bottle of water and rested. I thought about what Phyre had said, that I would be killed if Lakhar didn't make it through the Run. I was being more than careful. I didn't accept any forbidden Selk knowledge. I knew one Selk word, but I didn't know what it meant or if it had any significance at all. The biggest danger was that I hadn't killed Phyre, but there had been no chance and he was much more swift than I. I was being as careful as possible. I knew Selk affairs were really none of my business and I was very much okay with keeping it that way.

The thought of my engagement to Lakhar floated through my mind and I wondered how serious he was. When he had talked to my father, he seemed sure. He had told the kingdom that he planned to marry me once our Run had concluded. I wonder why he had said it at all. It wasn't as if he needed to marry me. I wouldn't be a co-Ruler with him. I wouldn't even be able to live with him in the castle as his wife. He had never shown any intention of wanting to spend our lives together. I loved him. I wanted to marry him. I wanted to be happy, but I wasn't. There was more and more about this whole mess I was learning and I didn't like any of it.

But, none of this mattered right now. What mattered would be finally making it to the end of this damned twenty mile Run.

I turned behind me when I heard the crunch of Lakhar and Phyre's footsteps. 

"Evelyn, Phyre and I were talking and we've made a decision."

We made a decision, huh? "Oh?"

Lakhar pursed his lips. "We will tell you everything there is to know as soon as the Run is over. That is a promise. As soon as I king, you will have the shield of my protection as both my wife and a survivor of the Run. It gives you the privilege of Selk knowledge that a normal Human wouldn't be allowed. Can you just wait? I will tell you every thing."

I inhaled through my nose, glaring at him. He was asking for my trust as though I had a choice in the matter. I had to trust him. I promised that I would and I planned to keep my word.

"He really isn't a bad guy, Evelyn. I will tell you everything when our lives are no longer in danger. We have found ourselves in an amazing opportunity with his escape. Let's utilize it."

I looked once again to Phyre and gave a brief nod. I didn't trust him, but I would respect Lakhar's decision.

"Okay."

We continued, jogging ahead. I noticed that Phyre didn't stick with the two of us as we started running. His absence was a welcome relief as Lakhar and I continued on in silence. I didn't want him around anyway. He was probably jogging ahead to try to kill someone else. lakhar had looked over his weapons and saw that he had taken a knife from Reveka. Whatever her Runner's weapon had been, he had discarded it before we had converged with him. 

I didn't know how much longer the woods were going to last, but I could still hear the River relatively close. We were going to make it into the city very soon, I could vaguely make out the thinning of trees ahead of us. 

"His tattoo," I asked as I stopped to take water break. "Does it make him... different?"

Lakhar smirked. "If you had a tattoo of an eye on your forehead, would that make you different?" 

I scoffed. "Yeah, but you know what I mean. It... it blinded his third eye, didn't it? He mutilated himself. What does that mean for a Selk?"

Lakhar was silent for several minutes. "Phyre learned a very harsh truth when we were younger. The tattoo was the only way he could cope. He felt it liberated him."

It didn't mean much to me. I wasn't aware of what a third eye could do for a Selk. As far as I knew, the third eye didn't do much at all unless it was open and it almost never was. That must've meant that what I thought was wrong and, at the moment, I was far from being surprised.

Lakhar paused for a moment before jogging ahead of me. "I think the city is just ahead!" 

I hurried quickly behind him, trying to reach the brim of the woods as quickly as I could. I worried that there might be a trap waiting ahead of us or that he might run out of my view. I could only travel with him so much longer before he would pass through the barrier, presumably with Phyre, and the two of them would make it inside of the palace. I would have to wait outside until it was over.

But Lakhar ran without fear and several minutes later I heard him call my name through the brush. I nervously ran toward him. He didn't seem to care that he may be attracting attention to himself. 

When I broke through the tree line and made it to the street, I felt like I could finally breathe. It was no longer dark and I no longer had to tread carefully over the roots or watch for any kind of wild life that may be around. I also no longer felt the the threat of a being hiding in the tree tops as we passed. 

I hopped out onto the street before looking around. The city was black. No lights were on, the power was cut. The only light that was visible was the palace in the distance. I knew the power would be on there, we would need some sort of beacon to lead us in the right direction. We were so close.

"What's Phyre going to be doing?" I asked as I started down the middle of the road.

Lakhar walked carelessly toward the castle. "He's out ridding us of a few of our competitors. He's killed the one team we passed earlier and obviously you were there when he disposed of half of the other team."

I frowned. "Is he going to to go inside of the Palace with you once we reach the barrier?" I asked softly. 

He looked over at me. "Is that a problem if he does? You'll no longer be able to help me on my journey. Your place will be to take over what Phyre is doing, and stopping those from entering the barrier into the palace."

I gripped the backpack straps. "Why didn't you just announce that he was going to be your Running partner? You obviously knew he had escaped and made contact with him. I mean, you did everything short of helping him escape." I hoped he didn't help him escape.

"Announcing him as my partner would've been disastrous. I would've been killed for being a traitor. Phyre isn't considered loyal to this Kingdom and unable to be my partner."

I hated this. The drive I had to help Lakhar was beginning to dwindle, bad news for me since his success was the best chance that my life would be spared in the end of all of this. The fact that he had included someone else behind my back hurt me. 

Strangely enough, none of this made me trust him less. I was discouraged, hurt, and distrustful of Phyre, but I still trusted his actions. Part of my hated that. I felt like I wasn't allowed to not trust him anymore. I had to. I had no choice because of the situation we were in. I could only hope that Lakhar loved me as much as I loved him.

Beginning again, I headed down the street, silent. It bothered me that Lakhar didn't trust me. In the end, he still felt like he needed a Selk Assistant to help him through the Run. I didn't know whether I had to energy to prove myself to him. Wasn't my willingness to die for him enough? I guess not.

"You're upset again," Lakhar said. I supposed the silence had dragged to a point of annoyance for him once it was obvious there was something wrong. 

"I am upset. But it doesn't matter., Lakhar. I've been lied to. A lot. By you." I continued walking. "But what does it matter? It's your grand plan to make it into the chair as Ruler of this kingdom, right? I just wonder if anyone else has a plan as convoluted as you do or do you think that they wanted to keep it simple?"

Lakhar waited until I was finished before he spoke. "You don't understand what's really going on, Evelyn," he said softly. "You're only seeing what you want with the pieces that you have. It'll be obvious soon. I... simply cannot tell you now."

I opened my mouth and closed it. "He killed Reveka! She knew something about my mom and I didn't have a chance to ask her about it and Phyre killed her." I didn't take the time to consider that someone else could have killed her or that she could've killed me. It didn't happen. Phyre killed her and I was angry.

"Then survive and win with me. You'll have the authority to question whoever you want. And if they don't answer you, then I'll pull the information from them myself. You have to keep in mind that Reveka, the moment the Run began, was no longer your friend. She was no longer the girl you knew. She was an enemy. You don't need her."

I was about to open my mouth again when suddenly I felt myself being grabbed and jerked backwards. I was only able to let out a squeak before my vision went black.


	10. Chapter 10

I struggled blindly against whoever held me. A bag had been shoved over my head. The hands that held me were strong, but I had no idea who it could possibly be. I just needed to get away. I didn't know what was happening to Lakhar, the Selky yelling of the man that held me as well as my own sounds drowned him out. 

When I was younger, I had taken defense classes. Not very many, as I didn't find them very interesting, but I did learn the basic 'stranger danger' spots to disarm someone who was trying to grab me. I assessed the situation. A bag was over my head and my arms were being held behind my back by one arm. The other, I wasn't sure of the location, but I knew that it probably had a weapon of some kind in it. As for my own weapon, I had no idea where my bat was. I was sure I had heard it clang to the ground when I had been grabbed. 

My teacher had told me that were I in that situation, the best thing was to use my feet. I raised my foot into the air and stomped down on whoever it was that held me. A loud howl came from the captor's mouth and all I could do was to raise my foot and try to stomp the other foot.

This was met with a harsh shove and I fell to the ground. I scrambled quickly to pull the bag off of my head, which turned out to be one of the issued backpacks. I turned and saw two semi-familiar faces. The one that held me was a Runner. He was tall, thin, but muscular and had bright orange hair/ His name was on the tip of my tongue, but I knew it didn't matter. 

I was on my feet quick. I searched for my bat, locating it several yards away. The Runner Selk saw that I had spotted it two and dove for it at the same time I did. Our heads collided and I cried out as a sickening crack reverberated in my skull. I could feel the cool rubber handle in my hand as I attempted to jerk it to me. A growl of Selky hissed as the Runner jerked back. 

As I fought for dominance of the bat, a scream caught my attention. I glanced back and saw Lakhar fighting with the Assistant, a young female Selk, another name that was on the tip of my tongue. When had they found us? I hadn't heard them. How long had they been planning to ambush us?

I felt the bat beginning to slip from my fingers as I cried out, jerking the bat to me again. I shoved my legs forward and began to kick at the Runner, yelling desperately for him to give it to me. A kick to the face sent him reeling and I hopped to my feet as fast as I could, wielding the bat over my shoulder.

"Kill him!"

I glanced back at Lakhar, seeing him wrestle with the other Selk. That was when their names hit me. The Runner was Paraskeve and the Assistant was Joska. Their weapons were a machete and a spear. I saw that Joska was wielding the machete and the spear was nowhere to be seen.

I shook my head and swung the bat at Paraskeve. I screamed as I hit him in the right side of his face. He stumbled back, falling, and grabbed his face. I raised the bat up again and stopped. My chest heaved as I watched the Runner fall down to the ground. His nose was bleeding. I had to kill him, but I couldn't bring myself to bring down the bat again. He was stunned, he didn't seem to be moving.

"Evelyn! Kill him! His spear is--" a strangled cry "Across the street! Use it if you have to! The bat! Anything!"

I couldn't see Lakhar anymore. The sounds behind be alerted me that there was no weapon in either hand. Joska had lost her machete and Lakhar had unsheathed his sword.

"Do not kill him, Human," a hissing voice came from behind me. I glanced behind me and caught Joska's eyes for a moment. "Killing a Selk is a death sentence for you," she hissed.

I sputtered, feeling my arms go weak as I looked at Paraskeve. His eyes were slowly filling with realization and I watched almost as in slow motion as his arms and legs slowly began to move. He wanted to be out of the way in one quick movement. I only had once chance to get rid of him and that was now.

"Evelyn! Kill him now!"

Screams poured from my throat as I began hitting him over and over with the bat. My chest was thumping, I closed my eyes to shield from the splatter. I could feel blood spitting against my face, I was hardly aware that my body was moving at all. All I could hear were my screams covering the wet thumps of the bat against him. 

The next thing I knew, I was flying to the ground. I was hit hard, grunting loudly. My bat rolled out of my reach again. 

Glancing up, I saw Joska scramble to the side of Paraskeve. She leaned over him, her hands fisted at her mouth as she looked at the mess that used to be her Runner partner. 

I kicked away as I caught her glaze. She was pissed and I didn't blame her. I just didn't want to be within her reach when she decided to come at me.

"Good job, human," she hissed. He's dead." 

She stood and turned her attention to me. I didn't know where my bat was, but it was no longer within reach. She pounced me a moment later, straddling my hips. Her hands were wrapped around my throat, screaming at me as she clenched tighter. 

Not thinking, my hands went to hers, attempting to pull them from me. My legs wouldn't be able to save me from this attack. I tried to remember how to disarm an attack from this position. Did I scratch her? Did I pull her hands away from my throat?

Panicked, I looked for Lakhar, where was he? Why wasn't he helping me? I called the Selky word that he had taught me as best as I could. I was beginning to feel light headed as I attempted to buck her from me. 

"He taught you something?" she hissed. "His name sounds disgusting coming from your lips."

I was beginning to black out when suddenly the grip around my throat slackened. I sputtered as I felt a great deal of wetness on my face and Joska slumped down over me. What stopped her from leaning against my entirely was the spear that stuck out of her chest and pressed into the concrete.

As I managed to pull away from Joska, sliding from under her body, I looked for my savior. I frowned when I saw Phyre standing before me, hands still on the pole of the spear. He held his hand out to me and I ignored it, shakily pulling myself to my feet. He saved my life, but I still didn't like him and now I was indebted to him. 

"Going to say thank you, Princess? Your knight has saved you," Phyre said with a grin, walking back to pick up the abandoned machete.

I groaned. He was calling himself a knight? My knight? "What happened to the Lakhar?"

Phyre thumbed over to the crumbled body of Lakhar that laid on the ground across the street. "I figured you were in more danger than he was, so I came to you first."

I hardly listened to him as I hurried to Lakhar's side, face falling. I reached forward and touched his face and saw a bloody spot on the side of Lakhar's head. I winced and applied pressure on the wound. 

"I need the first aid kit from the backpack!" I yelled to Phyre. It was handed to me immediately. The wound wasn't threatening, but it needed to be treated quickly and we needed to hurry away from here. We were sitting ducks right now. 

Inside of the first aid kit was an aerosol can of instant healer. It didn't exactly instantly heal the wound, but it would start it on its course. Perfect for wounds that were open and poured blood. 

I took the bottle from the kit and sprayed the side of Lakhar's head, whispering to him that it would be okay. The blood was already lessening. I snapped my bloody fingers to Phyre and asked for the pain relief spray. I was more worried that he hadn't woken up yet. 

"Lakhar?" I asked softly, feeling his head, checking for fever. Nothing. I gritted my teeth and hoped that he was just unconscious and nothing worse had happened. If he fell into a coma, then we would be nothing but sitting ducks. I didn't know how Phyre would react if it were worse. 

"You've never dealt with an unconscious Selk before, have you?" He snorted. 

I narrowed my eyes. "Tons of times. Selks just pass out around me all the time! I'm a pro!"

He sighed and pushed me out of the way. I opened my mouth to argue with him, but thought better of it. Lakhar trusted him. And Phyre was a Selk, he knew more about anatomy than I did. Selk bodies, the insides, at least, were kept from us. More forbidden knowledge. 

Phyre looked over Lakhar's body, he trailed a hand up his clothes chest and took his face between his hands. Closing his eyes, he began to hum.

It was strange. The way Phyre held him looked almost intimate. Phyre's voice was gravelly and raw, but the hum that sounded from the same throat was almost angelic. I moved away from the two of them, not wanting to disturb them--him. Besides, right now, they were vulnerable to attack. It was my job to keep the two of them safe while Phyre did whatever it was that he was doing. 

A low rumble of Selk sounded from Phyre's mouth. A chant? One of the words he spoke was the word that Lakhar had taught me hours ago. I remembered Joska saying that the word had been Lakhar's name. It sounded so different in Selky than it did in a human tongue. The word was a little more than a mewl. His name was so gentle on my tongue. He had wanted me to call for him if I were in trouble. 

"Evelyn," Phyre's voice croaked. "We have to start moving. He's going to be out cold a while longer. I couldn't call him back." There was a look of pain on his face when he said this that I didn't quite understand. I could only take it as Phyre had failed him. "One of us is going to have to carry him while the other guards."

I looked down at Lakhar that all of him would be dead weight and that I wasn't very strong. 

"He is going to wake up, isn't he?" I asked softly. 

Phyre nodded. "No worries, his mind and body aren't dead. He's recovering."

"But his eye is open..."

A loud sound of annoyance sounded from Phyre before he hoisted Lakhar up and held him wedding-style. 

“Do you know why their eyes open when they Run? It’s because their bodies are preparing for death. But I still feel him here.” He nodded at the ground. "Grab the weapons and come with me."

It surprised me to hear this from him but I should've guess that it should've been obvious. The Chosen bodies have a ninety percent failure rate. There was only a ten percent chance that a Running Selk would be ruler. 

I shakily grabbed the weapons. I wasn't sure how to carry all of them. Phyre took the spear before I over thought it and I sheathed Lakhar's sword back into the hilt. The other weapons we had at our disposal included my bat, Reveka's knife, and the machete that Phyre had taken from Joska. 

The two of us continued in silence as we slowly made our way down the street. So far we knew that at least three of the Runners were dead. That meant there were six others that would need to die before this would be over with and we were drawing ever closer to the point that I would no longer be able to help. 

"Tell me about yourself," Phyre grunted, hoisting Lakhar back up. "I want to know why he enjoys your company."

I didn't say anything at first, I thought about what all I could think to tell him. I wasn't spectacular and I didn't really want him knowing too much about me. I didn't matter to him, I knew I didn't. He was trying to keep me calm and focused.

"I'm eighteen, I have an older brother, I'm in college. My father works for the local government and my mother's dead." I shrugged. "She used to work with Selk wives, teaching them how to act like human housewives. They'd learn a lot of card games." Or at least that was what I had been told. Now I wasn't so sure. 

His brow piqued in interest. "Your mother trained Selk women?"

"Well, I thought she had." I gripped the bat. "A Selk friend of mine said that wasn't true."

"What was actually happening?" He asked. 

"I don't know. Before I could find out, you killed her. She was the Assistant in the first team you killed."

Phyre looked unapologetic. "There are no such things as humans who help Selks integrate into society. Selks receive all the training they need. Most Selks born on Earth are raised accordingly," he said plainly. "They were either playing card games or something else was happening. How did your mother die?"

I didn't like the way he was talking about the situation as though he knew better than me. He didn't know my mother, he didn't know what she did. 

From passing glances, I saw cards on the table, I heard terminology when I grabbed snacks. She taught them everything from rummy to tarot. 

"Does it matter?" I asked, glaring. 

"Did she get sick?"

I paused and my face fell. "How did you know?"

He heaved a sigh, pausing, placing Lakhar on the ground. "I know because a lot of humans die of that sickness. It's given to them deliberately. Your mother learned too many Selk secrets and the kingdom viewed her as a threat." He pulled the machete up as he looked around. "Sorry for killing the person that could've cleared things up for you."


	11. Chapter 11

I made a small, disbelieving sound, but quickly shut my mouth. Selks weren't quiet when a human was accused of knowing Selk secrets. Their lives were upheaved and put on display. Everyone in the family would be taken in by the government and they would all be thoroughly interviewed, those deemed to have illegal knowledge were sent away to work for the Selk in their homeland or they were simply killed if they had no helpful skills. They weren't given weird diseases, that meant there was the chance that they could pass along the information.

And at any rate, my mother hadn't died quickly. She suffered over many weeks and had several opportunities to be vocal about any of the things that she had been involved in. She knew for days before that she was going to die and besides one private meeting with Dr. Ashford, there was nothing suspicious about her behavior, even the fact that she had a meeting with Dr. Ashford wasn't strange to me, they were close friends, relatives, and would often talk to each other. The only strange thing had been that they had shut everyone out while the spoke.

"You're lying," I said simply. "I'm trying to risk my life for Lakhar and for the Kingdom and for you, of all people, and you're trying to amuse yourself. You're a terrible person."

He shrugged, reaching up to rub his shoulders. "I don't even know you. Your addition to this Run is simply because he couldn't choose me and not be considered a traitor." He reached into Lakhar's backpack and pulled out a bottle of water. "There is a lot you don't know and couldn't possibly understand. Humans aren't allowed to know about Selk affairs anyway. If you don't die during this, they're going to kill you afterwards. No Human Runner survives very long after a Run."

It was usually because they were killed in the process. There were a few survivors in the kingdom, but they were forbidden to speak about the Run, as I knew I would be.

The oldest surviving human Runner was a man named Richard Jones. He lived ten years after the Run in another castle before he had been killed by another human in a bar fight. As far as I knew, it wasn't the fault of the Selks at all. Several had committed suicide in the years after the Run due to public pressure being too much for them. I knew I wasn't that weak. I'd be the first human Runner to marry a Ruler.

"Was your mother one of those crazy Revolutionaries that tried to change things? Find a few Selks that were human sympathizers?"

I shook my head. I didn't want to talk to Phyre about my mother. 

"She just taught them card games," I said.

"Only card games?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. She didn't really do board games."

Phyre snorted. "Your mother was an Anti-Selk Revolutionary that held meetings in her own house and you didn't even know it. Did she do..." He made a few vague hand movements. "The game that tells the future?"

"Reading Tarot cards isn't exactly a game." The card in my pocket felt heavy. How had he known about that?

He grinned again. "So, she did. What card were you, Evelyn?"

This conversation was so off topic. What did reading Tarot cards have to do with my mother and Anti-Selk movements with Human Sympathizing Selks?

"Page of Cups. She said one day I would be a King, but it would be a long time."

"A King and not a Queen?"

I remembered the conversation with my mother vividly. I had asked her the same question when she had told me that I was a Page that would become a king, a servant to a Ruler. I didn't like the idea of the masculine card representing me. She held the cards up to me, the Page on one side, the King on the other and told me it was because I shared the same determined look that they both had.

"Kings are a powerhouse," I said. "They're the ones that hold places of leadership."

"The Queen of Cups is too emotional. She wanted to paint you as emotional but strong, I think. That's why your suit was Cups and not Swords."

I was surprised that he knew anything at all about Tarot. Lakhar hadn't seemed to know anything about the subject when I asked him about it.

"Your mother was most definitely murdered." He shrugged. "My condolences."

I wasn't sure if my mother was a revolutionary, but he seemed to be sure of it. It also looked like he was looking for a cause, a reason why this happened. I wondered if Lakhar knew anything.

"You're a Human Sympathizer?" I asked.

He have a tart laugh. "Not exactly. I'm Anti-Selk." He pointed to his forehead, the tip of his finger rubbing against the tattoo on his skin. "This eye does more than you can ever imagine and once it's opened at birth, the only way to stop it is to blind it. It's always watching, even when it's closed."

This was forbidden knowledge. Forbidden knowledge that he was just telling me. True, I didn't know what the eye did, but knowing that it was simply more than a closed eye was dangerous for me. But surviving this Run may not have been in the cards for me anyway. 

'You're going to be great.' Those were my mother's last words to me before I watched her perish of some unknown disease. 

I felt my forehead tense and the headache begin pinch at my right temple. I didn't want the migraine to come back. I reached into the bag for the bottle of painkillers and downed several of them before I turned my attention back to Phyre.

"How did you manage to escape at just the perfect time? Right before the Run was beginning, when Lakhar had been Chosen to be a potential Ruler?"

Phyre didn't answer immediately. "You ask the wrong questions sometimes."

I scoffed. "Then what is the right quetion?" 

"Do you know why I was arrested for being a traitor, Evelyn? Was that something Lakhar and you talked about?"

I shook my head. "He said you two weren't friends anymore over a disagreement that the two of you had had."

Phyre's eyes darkened a bit. "Well, that's a different story. I was arrested because, much like him, I had a human lover. Her name was Trinity. I met her soon after I was... liberated from a place I had been held."

He didn't give more information about the place he was talking about and I didn't push him. 

"When I was out of my own, I was truly alone for the first time in my life. I was blind, Lakhar had left me. She was the first kind soul. I was fourteen when this happened, she was sixteen. We evaded the law together for years, living off the radar. Basically homeless. She opened my eyes to the world around me and I saw outside of the privilege that I had held as a Selk. But it didn't last forever. A few months ago, I was caught stealing some stuff. Her too."

Phyre leaned down and touched Lakhar's cheek. He pulled his hand away a moment later. "I was being carted to the other side of the country for study. It's very rare a Selk blinds himself. They were going to study me."

It still didn't tell me why he wanted to blind himself in the first place, but I didn't ask. 

"There was also the fact that I had impregnated my lover."

I opened my mouth to argue that it was impossible for Selks and humans to interbreed, that Monsters didn't exist, but at the moment, Lakhar stirred. I was at his side immediately, touching the wound. 

"Lakhar? Are you okay?"

He groaned softly and nodded, brushing away my hands. He sat up and looked around. I guess he was realizing that we were no longer in the location that he remembered us being.

A few croaks came from Lakhar's mouth in Selky and Phyre gave a long explanation. None of this could I understand, but I did hear his Selk name mentioned a few times. 

"So, you killed someone, Evelyn?" he asked me finally.

My mouth fell open. How could I have possibly forgotten that I had just ended the life of another creature, that I had killed someone? That if Lakhar didn't win, I would definitely be jailed for treason. How had I forgotten the blood all over me already and deemed the situation unimportant to think about? Was I in shock?

No. I didn't care. It had been scary at the time and I feared for my own life, but now that it was over, it was compartmentalized. I no longer cared. They were dead. As unimportant now as they had ever been to me. 

"Yes," I answered as I reached into the backpack and found a spare piece of cloth. I wet it with a bit of water and began scrubbing at the blood on my face. It was suddenly so sticky.

He reached over and patted my shoulder. "Good. We need to keep going. We're getting close to the palace. There are probably others already there waiting for the inevitable meet up."

I had the urge to argue with him, to tell him that he needed to slow down a little, that he was still suffering a head injury, but I kept quiet. We didn't have the luxury of healing time. We hardly had the luxury of time at all. I simply nodded and gathered the backpacks together before standing before the two of them.

"Then we should keep going," I said, nodding ahead. 

Losing was no longer an option. Phyre was right. If I survived and Lakhar didn't, the government would kill me for killing on their own. Lakhar was my only hope of survival to the end of tomorrow. The thought of going home and working on my papers that were due seemed like almost a dream. I was going to live through this. I wanted to know what my mother had been killed for and I wanted to find out why she never broke her silence.

We continued on in silence, watching for any others that may be trying to ambush us. It had happened once already and we weren't going to let it happen again.

I tried not to let the words that Phyre said distract me. He had immediately seen signs that my mother had been killed and had no problem spilling the Selk secrets that could also kill me. He was flimsy with information. I bet that had been the downfall of his girlfriend. There was no way he had gotten her pregnant.

The pain my head was great. My eyes began to squint as I took in the surroundings. The painkillers, as usual, were doing nothing. But we were growing closer to the end. In a few hours, this would be over and I could get medical help. Dr. Ashford would think of something for me.

Outside of our footsteps, it was dead silent. There were several lights in the city, but no other power was on. I couldn't even tell what time it was or how long it had taken us to trudge the several miles of forest. It was in the pre-dawn hours, where the sky was still dark, but there was the hint of light that told you the sun would soon be rising.

I dragged behind as I looked around. My eyes hurt from trying to adjust to the small bursts of light around the city that lit up a bit of darkness. It was hard to form any kind of picture with the strange pops of light.

The city looked so different mostly dark and it was too dangerous to pull out the bio-lanterns that they had packed with us to see. It had been too dangerous to use them in the woods. It would draw too much attention to our little group.

I barely recognized the buildings. I searched until I saw a familiar name. A small boutique that my mother used to shop at when I was little. That meant the Mason's flower shop was just a few blocks away. 

This was currently familiar area.

"Your head is hurting again," Lakhar muttered as he waited for me to catch up with him. 

"Yeah," I muttered, rubbing my forehead. "Tension. Lighting."

"We're within a five miles of the kingdom gates and the sun will be rising soon. There is no doubt that someone is lying in wait. My time spent unconscious gave them time to push forward."

I inhaled deeply. I was going to be alone and useless soon enough. Lakhar and Phyre were going to head in with whoever was left and I was going to have to try my best to keep anyone else from getting in. The idea made my head throb even harder.

"I'm going to make sure that no one else gets through. I'll kill every Runner that tries to get through the gate," I said. "Whoever is in the castle, that's all there will be."

Lakhar wrapped his arm around my waist, holding me close to him. I felt my face heat, the intensity of my previous words suddenly felt silly. Lakhar made me feel safe.

"Stop worrying. You need your mind clear for the last stretch of the Run. Your head already aches, don't let your worries cloud your thinking. I know you will do well. You know you will do well. Stop worrying about it."

And I did. I felt the worry leave my body. I knew that I could do this. He was right. I was right. I'd keep them out.

My attention flickered to Phyre, who was busy walking ahead, looking for danger. I was so jealous of him. He could do things that I couldn't. He was scary and obviously dangerous and I didn't trust him. 

"I don't worry about my abilities to keep the Gate guarded. I trust you entirely." I almost felt as if I were entirely unable to not trust him or worry about my abilities. But that didn't alleviate all of my stress. My eyes laid squarely on Phyre. He was back and standing in front of the both of us.

"I see, you just don't trust me," Phyre scoffed. 

I didn't confirm it, but my face did. "I can't believe a thing you've told me. You're a traitor. how am I supposed to trust that you'll actually protect him?"

Phyre threw his hands up. "Are you serious right now? I've been help to the both of you all night! I could've ended the both of you when he was out cold and I didn't."

"Just because you didn't kill him now doesn't mean that you won't. He can't save you. You're a traitor. If he gives you amnesty for your crimes in this kingdom, then it'll turn the kingdom against him!"

Phyre glared. "You don't know anything, Evelyn. You're just his idiot, human pet."

"And you're a blind, defective Selk!"

"Evelyn! Phyre!" Lakhar hissed. "There is no way I can solve the trust issues between you both. My intention is to win. I vowed to keep the two of you safe. I can't do that dead. Now, calm yourself, get over your jealousy." He looked to Phyre. "Both of you. Just do as I tell you."

I frowned and nodded before I glanced to Phyre. He was jealous too? Or was Lakhar just trying to shame the both of us?


	12. Chapter 12

The three of us walked. Part of me felt like that if Lakhar had ordered me to get over it, I would've, but he didn't and the feeling remained. I needed to focus on the Run anyway.

The city was quiet aside from the sounds of our foot steps. The castle was going to soon be upon us. I could already see the points of the steeples in the distance. I didn't know how many people were already there or behind us or already dead.

Of the other eighteen people in the Running, six were already dead that I knew. There was no doubt in my mind that other pairs had killed each other, but the unknowng of how many we were up against was nerve wracking. Especially since I knew that I was supposed to kill whoever came up to the gate.

I had successfully killed one person and I wasn't a shaking, sobbing mess. In fact, I hardly cared at all that I had done it. I compartmentalized it. I didn't know if I would be able to hold myself together if I had to do it again. I figured that my mind knew the importance of the situation that I was in and would let me react later. I'd realize the horrors of all of this after my body had calmed down. 

After all, I had killed someone, but I had been more concerned with Lakhar's safety than I had with the person I killed.

The city around me was becoming less and less familiar. Closer to the castle, there were more and more Selk specialty shops. Nothing passed Fifth Street catered to human interest so it had been extremely rare that I had wandered to this point. We walked passed a shop where the window was broken. The sign above the store was written in the fragile Selky font that I was used everywhere. The interior looked like that of a jewelry store. There were glass cases that aligned the walls and small displays against the windows that held thousands of these stones on small delicate pillows. They weren't jewelry. No Selk wore these. They just owned them.

I paused long enough to look inside, spotting small, shiny stones that lined the shops in glass cases. They weren't for sale to humans. Another thing we weren't allowed to know. I was amazed by the sheer amount of them.

It didn't make sense to me why this window had been shattered when none of the shops up until here hadn't been touched. Usually Runs happened with little to no collateral damage to the Kingdom. Someone on the Run had grabbed these. But that hadn't made sense. We were given a pair of these stones when we began the Run. I still had the ones that were given to us. Two ugly brown stones that had been packed in a small case that resembled my contact lens case.

There was a particular pink stone that glinted just below were the window that had been broken. Of all the stones that lined the window, this one called out to me. I paid no mind to the fact that Lakhar and Phyre were leaving me behind as I reached out to touch the stone that I couldn't take my eyes off of.

My mother had had a stone like this before. The very same bright pink that glimmered just this way. She had told me it was her good luck charm and I had never been allowed to touch it. Micah and I would sometimes sneak into my parents' bedroom and steal looks at the pretty garnet stone my mother kept wrapped in a silk cloth in her intimates drawer. After Mom died, I had gone back to look for it, but it was no longer there. I assumed Mom had given it to Doctor Ashford along with the Tarot cards.

I didn't cry out when I felt my arm press against the shattered glass, it shook carefully as it slid up my arm, cutting myself to reach for the stone. I was too focused on reaching the stone to even feel the pain.

It was smooth in my grasp. I felt my heart rate increase as I gripped it tightly before feeling the urge to smuggle it away. I wanted this and I wouldn't be allowed to keep it. It was for Selks and I wasn't a Selk. I slipped one into my pocket. I wouldn't let them deny me this one memento.

"Evelyn, your arm."

I jumped away from the glass and looked to see Lakhar standing before me. He held out his hand to me as he walked toward me, his shoes crunching the glass beneath his feet.   
"Did you touch one?" he asked.

I nodded. "I just touched it. They're shining." I paused. "What are they?"

Phyre approached and grabbed a green stone, grinning before he popped it into his mouth. My mouth fell open as I saw him begin to crunch and munch the rock, the green shards covering his teeth. He then took another and pocketed it.

Lakhar growled at the display. Phyre merely shrugged.

"You might as well tell her, Lakhar. The Elders are going to assume that she knows secrets. They know Humans always learn Selk secrets during a Run."

"Then you tell her," he muttered, he reached for my arm. "You're bleeding, Evelyn." 

Phyre looked at me and grinned. "Do you want to know a secret about these rocks that could get you killed?"

I shook my head. I didn't want to voluntarily get Selk information. I wanted to say that everything I had learned had been forced on to me by Phyre. I needed a defense. I could blame the traitor.

"Come on, you just watched me consume one. Do you have even a guess?"

The rock in my pocket felt heavy. The idea that I just had stolen a Selk snack made me sick. The rock I coveted when I was little was probably a stale potato chip.

Lakhar pulled pulled out the can of Instant Healer and sprayed it over the wound on my arm. I hissed as I felt it invade the wound, pushing out the glass and bidding my arm to heal.

"And I mean, you're obviously very curious about Selks. Might as well satiate that knowledge while you can." Phyre said, reaching in to pull out another stone, this time it was black.

I vehemently shook my head and pushed passed the both if them. Phyre was evil. From now on, I was going to be blind, deaf, and dumb to all things Selk. I wanted so badly to push the word Lakhar had taught me to speak from my head. It was his name and it was forbidden and I knew that I had to follow the laws if I wanted to survive.

"They don't have to know that you know Evelyn. We won't say anything. Knowing this one thing won't unravel our whole secret society to you. I bet your mother knew what these were for." 

I still didn't answer. I kept walking. Phyre didn't make me like him. He made me angry. I held my breath and glanced back, searching for Lakhar. He hadn't wanted me to know. He wasn't stupid. He knew that it was knowledge that I couldn't know and that was why he hadn't offered it to me. 

"I don't see the harm, Evelyn! You're either going to keep our secrets or you're dead!" Phyre said, catching up with me.

I stopped and grabbed his arm. I shoved him into the nearest wall. "Why are you so ready to make sure that I get a death sentence?" I growled. "You're so loose-lipped with own culture. Spreading your secrets isn't going make your society fall, it's just going to make sure a lot of people die."

Phyre shrugged and pushed my hands off of him. "Your mother wanted to take the chance--"

"Stop!" I yelled, slapping him. "You don't know my mother! That's not who she was!"

My chest was heaving. He was so smug. He thought he revealed my mother's so-called secret life to me when there was no evidence. I had no idea what Reveka wanted to tell me. He had taken away that little shed of light hours ago. He wanted to send me toward a death sentence and fill my head with nonsense. 

"Stop talking about her like you knew her. You didn't. You're just some traitorous Selk that used to know Lakhar and you're trying to get rid of me. Everything you've said has been a lie." I was shaking now. I was so finished with him. "I don't know anything about your culture and I don't want to. I don't care what happened to you that made you blind yourself, I don't care how you know Lakhar. You're nothing but an obviously broken creature."

Phyre lowered his eyes. "I guess I have overstepped my bounds." He glanced to Lakhar and said something in Selky before giving him a small nod. He tossed the machete that he had taken from Joska over his shoulder and left.

My face softened as he walked away and I felt the urge to apologize and bring him back, but I pushed the urge away. I wanted him gone. I didn't care where he was going.

Lakhar seemed to pick up on this and the two of us continued.

"He didn't lie to you," Lakhar muttered after a few minutes of silence. "Phyre is very savvy in the workings of the underground."

Confused, I looked to him. "What was he right about? Are you going to start on me too?"

He shook his head and continued in the same stride. We were growing closer and closer to the castle and now Phyre wasn't here. Would Lakhar have to go in alone? Surely he wouldn't abandon him before the most important part.

"Phyre and I were both somewhat outcasts in our old Kingdom, he more than I," he said, continuing on. "He is a deformed Selk, as am I. His deformity is much more obvious than my own. We were forced to go to a rehabilitation center while young. I overcame my deformity, he wasn't able to. I met him in a training facility when I was eleven. He was fourteen and had already been given up on."

My brow furled. This was the first that I had heard that Lakhar had any kind of deformity. I had seen him head to foot and besides the glaringly wide eye open in his forehead, he seemed perfectly normal. Well, perfectly normal to a human.

"I was allowed to live with my family. He wasn't. He was going to be sent to a Research Center to be studied. I helped him escape and he lived among the humans. It didn't go well. It never does for a Selk in his position."

It didn't make sense. I looked at Lakhar curiously. I didn't want to ask, but I desperately wanted to know about his deformity, I wanted to know why Selks considered it normal to send deformed beings to be studied if they couldn't be helped. I wanted to know more about what he would offer to tell me about the situation. Offered forbidden information felt better received when offered freely versus when I asked for it.

"Selks are... connected." He pointed to the eye in his forehead. "Every Selk in the kingdom knows who has died and who is still alive. Except for me. I can feel their fears that I will be the one that wins. They hope that I die."

His hand fell to his side as I nodded that we turn down a particular street. Welmer Road. Sixteen blocks from the Castle. "Phyre's deformity made all of that much more intense. When I met him, he was crippled in a hallway. He had just finished a class that was designed to dull his sensitivity. I was the only person that he could handle being around due to my own deformity."

"What's your deformity?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"I can feel them, but they can't feel me. My deformity is the opposite of Phyre's. Usually those who hold my problem aren't allowed to function in society. We're considered dangerous as they are unable read us. Selks can't read humans either, but humans, to them, are sheep. An unread Selk is dangerous." He snorted. "Or so they say. But I was given a chance and given to my parents to raise. They still can't read me, but I'm not a threat anymore. My family moved here not too long after I was released from the facility. A fresh start. Selks still know there is something off about me, but they don't know about my time spent in a facility."

I hadn't known Lakhar to be deformed, but it made a lot of sense that something was different about him. He had no Selk friends. Besides his parents and his school peers, he had little-to-no contact with others of his kind. He didn't work in his parent's shop and spent most of his evenings with me.

"He failed the course and was told that he would be transported to another facility for study. He couldn't handle being around his own people and had been more and more frequently found in the presence of human despite being underage. Instead, I helped him escape."

"What was Phyre right about?" I asked softly.

Lakhar inhaled deeply. He glanced around for a moment at me before shaking his head.

"You're family isn't trusted. That's is why your father was given a government job. Why your brother was given admission into the university despite his below average grades. Your mother's death bears the signs of an assassination and the Selks find your going to a Niche doctor very concerning. They're curious about you and unsure how they are to proceed with you."

"Proceed with my family? It looks like they have us where they want us."

"Not with your family. You," he said. "You're the one they're curious about."

I shook my head. "Why would the Selks be curious about me? If they took out my mother like you said they did, it would've seem I would've gotten sick then too." 

This was sounding more and more ridiculous. The Selks killed my mother and they were curious about me because I saw a Niche doctor? Were they curious about the other fifteen percent of humans that also saw Niche doctors? If they were so curious, why not infiltrate them at all? If they were a threat, why allow them to exist?

And not only that, but Lakhar was and had always been aware of all of this and never thought to mention it to me?

I stepped back, shaking my head, this didn't make sense. "There is nothing special about me or my family, Lakhar. What good is being Anti-Selk in our culture? We can't make you go away. We can't stop you from ruling us. We know that we are at your mercy. We have no information. We're weak."

"Selks learn when we're young how to hide secrets from each other," Lakhar said. "It's a survival technique. If we don't learn to lie, we aren't allowed in human society. The greater skill is learning to lie to other Selks. Those who master that are often the ones chosen to be leaders." He paused for a moment by a street corner and peered around. He closed his eyes and it almost looked as though he were looking around the area with the eye seated on his forehead.

"Every Selk that is chosen to Run is able to lie to other Selks. It would be pointless to he a leader of you were unable to lie to your people." He smirked. "That's why my type is usually pulled out of society. We're dangerous."

Everything Lakhar had told me could get me killed. Even if everything was a lie, I still knew too much I was dangerous now and there was still so much that I didn't know. 

It felt strange that a moment ago I was yelling at Phyre for offering information but gladly accepting what Lakhar had to say. I suppose it was because I trusted Lakhar to give me the sensitive information. I trusted him to keep me safe. He wouldn't risk me.

I wondered if everything Phyre had said was true. Why my mother had been targeted? Was she really working with human-sympathizing Selks? Selks, like Revekah's mother, lived with the lies as though they had done nothing illegal. I wondered who else was involved and what they were planning to do. I wondered how my boyfriend knew any of this. I supposed Selks were privy to that sort of information. He dated me, knowing this information. I wondered why.


	13. Chapter 13

We turned down the street and I could see the castle. I paused at the sight.

It was enormous. It reached far into the sky and the way the early morning light that peaked from behind the clouds made the structure glow. It wasn't made of any human substance that I was aware of, this stuff sparkled and gave off a light pink hue that matched the early morning colors of the sky. Surrounding the palace was a twelve foot gate. It looked like a normal iron structure, but I knew it wasn't. The spaces between the bars looked as though I was trying to stare through soap. It was distorted and made me ache to try to look between the bars. I had the illusion that there were massive gardens located once the pass through the gate that headed toward the castle, but whatever sort of vegetation it was was lost in the detail of the bubbly-fence.

Whatever the force field that surrounded that castle was made of, I didn't know. I do know that humans could not pass its barrier. It was some sort of Selk technology that kept us out. If I human approached it, they would technically be able to walk through in that there was nothing really there to stop them. The force field itself warped the perception of any human that approached it. One could only walk so far before they felt so choked that they had to go back. It warped the reality of whatever human tried to pass through it. 

When I was little, my class had taken a field trip to see the castle and we had all tested the barrier, sticking our little hands into the barrier. One kid had tried to walk through. We saw him bend the barrier around him until he collapsed and the teacher had to pull him away from it. I hadn't been back to the castle since then.

The only entrance inside was a wide gate who's mouth was open wide, greeting the Runners into it's hungry stomach. The same soapy look stretched over the passage. I wouldn't be able to cross. I would soon be saying goodbye.

A strange sensation of incompleteness made my body ache as I looked at it. I reached up without thinking and clutched my chest.

"It's waiting," I said softly. My eyes were locked on the wavy field.

I started forward, but Lakhar stopped me, jerking me back into an alley.

In a split second, I saw why. We were being attacked. 

Except we weren't. 

A team of two female Selks were in the distance, just barely visible. There had been a loud sound, gun fire? A quick look showed the two females that had been running toward the fence to stop in their tracks.

I thought for a moment that Phyre found them and was getting rid of another team, but the figure in front of the gate was shorter and more bulky than Phyre was. We were walking into the fight between another set of pairs.

Lakhar pulled me beside a dumpster and we knelt on the wet, stinking ground. 

"They know I'm here, but they don't know where," he breathed. "They won't come looking for us until one of the Teams kills the other if we don't make ourselves shown."

Team Eight had had close range weapons. One female with long blonde hair that was in a braid, the Runner judging by the eye, had had a spear and the other, a short-haired, brunette female, had a machete. The figure they were fights had a bow and arrow and... a gun?

Shots rang out and I covered my ears. Guns were against the Rules of the Run. Assistants and Runners took an oath to not use weapons of that kind. 

"Smart," Lakhar whispered. "I feel two Selks. The human must be using the gun." He looked down at my bat that was clutched to my chest. "He's very stupid."

I looked at him curiously to explain further, but he didn't and both of our attention was drawn away to a loud crash.

Lakhar started to creep toward the mouth of the alley, but I reached forward and grabbed his shirt tail.

"Let me go," I hissed. I handed him my bat and slowly slipped toward the entrance. 

My eyes widened when I saw that it was only Benji standing there. In one hand, he wielded the gun, in the other, he shouldered the crossbow. There was no sign of his Selk, he must've run ahead through the gate. I couldn't see a figure moving through the force-field, but that didn't surprise me as I couldn't see much any way.

Benji was trying to dispose of the two Selks that headed toward him. My eyes widened as I saw the Selks draw dangerously close before they would draw back and take cover for a moment before beginning again, trying to gain more ground against the human.

There was a sense of pride as I watched Benji keep his ground against two Selks despite the fact that he was using a forbidden weapon. They were much faster than humans were, but his reflexes were good. I had to jerk back to dodge several bullets that were meant for the Runner of Team Eight.

I crept back to Lakhar. "Team Nine's Selk is already heading toward the castle. At least, I think he is. I didn't see him. The human is guarding the gate and holding off Team Eight."

Lakhar smirked. "I told you I only felt two nearby Selks, Phyre will surely return soon. He'll kill the human and we'll walk in without a problem. There are other Selks that are inside. Teams of two that will pounce the loner Selk. Illion won't live very long."

I shifted lightly, remembering that without Phyre, Lakhar would've had to pass the gate alone. I hitched my breath and for the first time, felt grateful for Phyre's presence.

"The human knows he is going to die," Lakhar mused, relaxing against the brick wall of the building behind him. "You don't use a gun against a Selk and live." He ran his fingers over the dark brown bricks. "They're going to find Sibeal and Panora's body riddled with bullets and if the human lives, he will be executed. Illion will be questioned and if he knew that his human had the gun, he'll be executed and the Run will begin again if he were to win. He's playing this so that no one will come out alive except for him. It's a good plan."

The delight in Lakar's voice made me a little uncomfortable, but I pushed the feeling away. After watching so many people die in just a few hours, I wished I still had a sense of humor.

"When are we going to make a move?" I asked. "The other Selks know that you're here, don't they? They can sense you? Or Phyre?"

He closed his eyes for a moment. Well, the two that usually would close. The third still stared vacantly from his forehead. 

"Eventually, someone is going to die and the spat will be over. The Selk team will either die or they will walk through the threshold." He glanced over the dumpster. "Phyre is still relatively close, I think. He knows that we're going to be there soon. He plans to rejoin me just before I enter. The good thing about blinding yourself as a Selks is that others are blind to you as well."

I forced myself to relax for the first time in hours. I wasn't used to running like this. My body was starting to ache and I didn't know how many more teams had yet to arrive. Lakhar was going to leave me and I would be alone to guard the gate against entering Selks. I had no idea how I planned to do that with just a bat. Benji was having a hard time and he obviously had more training than I did.

I listened intently to the sounds of the city. I could visualize where I was in contrast to the rest. I caught passing glances of one of the Selks falling back as far as our alley, the Runner of the group only recognized by the gaping eye on it's forehead.

Suddenly, there was a scream and I knew that one of the Selks had died. I saw it in Lakhar's face. There was a smirk that spread over his features just before a sobbed scream sounded out.

"Panora--the Runner--is dead," he hissed, creeping toward the entrance. "Sibeal will be distracted. We can move now."

I left my spot behind the dumpster and grabbed his elbow. 

"Wait," I breathed. "They aren't both dead. There are still two."

He nodded. "Yes, but the Runner is dead. The Selk Assistant will be focused on killing the human. We need to move and get rid of them both so I can continue on."

Lakhar pulled away from me and walked out into the street. I grunted and grabbed my bat, following him. I hopped in front of him, providing a shield were Benji to decide to shoot at us.

Instead, I saw the Selk run at Benji as he attempted to shove another magazine in the bottom of the gun. The movement was in vain because a moment later, the arm had been ripped off of his body, lopped off by the machete in Sibeal's hand, and the gun fell carelessly to the ground. Without batting an eye, Benji used his other arm to shoot an arrow into the skull of the female Selk, the body crumbling over.

"I told you there was nothing to worry about," Lakhar mused. 

Lakhar slowly approached the wounded human, who now realized that there was another team advancing upon the gate.

My boyfriend's face was blank but the smile in his eyes was obvious. "You fought valiantly. You broke the rules and now death awaits you."

Benji pulled himself to his feet, still wielding the crossbow. The amount of blood that soaked his right side made me wonder how he still had the power to do so. Two-thirds of his arms was now missing.

"I'm not letting you through," Benji growled, finger on the trigger.

"Oh, but I will go through. It's my destiny to." The smile in Lakhar's eyes spread to the rest of his face. It was a familiar , joyful smile that made me feel uneasy in this situation.

"Do you want me to go kill him?" I asked, grunting, keeping myself as a shield between them.

"No, you continue to do what you are doing. Stay calm." 

When he told me to stay calm, I felt the release of tension in my back. He glanced back and my eyes followed him and I saw Phyre creeping nearby, sheltered by a row of parked cars. No wonder he was so calm.

"I broke the rules too," he called to Benji. "It looks like this Run is full of rule breakers. If they ever find out, we'll all be killed."

Benji didn't lower the crossbow. We were close enough to him now that I saw the sweat glean on his dark skin. 

"If you come any closer, I'll fire," he said.

"Let me help you, Benji," Lakhar said, stopping a few yards in front of the human. "You'll die without it. Let Evelyn save your life. Let me spare you."

Benji barked a laugh. "Selks don't know the meaning of the word. To spare? I bet you read that somewhere. I have a gun. I won't be spared."

"I am representing a new regime," Lakhar said. "One where I ask only for devotion."

"And there it is," Benji said. "I ought to shoot you just for spewing garbage." He grasped the trigger. "In fact, I think I will."

Phyre leapt from behind the car to Benji. I jerked Lakhar back, pulling him away from the skirmish in front of us. I tugged him down to the ground, climbing on top of Lakhar while I watched Phyre fight Benji, grabbing at the crossbow unsuccessfully. Benji wasn't ready to be disarmed.

But Selks are very physically strong and Phyre brandished the machete still. Phyre managed to wrench the crossbow from Benji's hand and throw it several yards away before he pulled up the hilt of the machete and knock Benji on the side of his head.

"You''re getting weak, Phyre," Lakhar said. He turned his attention back to me. "You can get off me now, Evelyn." He kissed my cheek. "I do appreciate your protection." He glanced back to Phyre with a grin. "Both of yours."

Phyre looked sheepish at the compliment. "I don't like killing humans," he muttered.

Lakhar nodded, standing the moment I moved off of him. "I know, but he will die anyway. The other Selk killed him when she ripped off his arm," he murmured.

I dusted off my clothing, a futile effort considering how covered in blood I was, 

Approaching slowly, I looked down at Benji's body and saw the bloody puddle that began to form where his arm had been. He had lost a lot of blood. He probably wasn't going to wake up unless he had some immediate medical treatment. Even with the first aid kit in the backpack, it probably wouldn't help much in the way of actually saving his life.

Benji didn't make sense to me. Why would he brandish a gun during the Run? Nothing was more taboo or off-limits than having a gun. You could only have weapons that didn't require special permits. A gun was nearly impossible to get outside of a hunting license, and even then, you were more likely to get a rifle instead of a gun. Besides that, the lack of reusability made them impractical for a Run. You could recover arrows, you couldn't recover and reuse bullets.

"Evelyn."

Lakhar's voice brought me back to him. I glanced ahead to see Lakhar and Phyre standing outside gate that warped my perception of reality.

I sucked in a deep breath. Looking at the waving forcefield made my head ache. It was as if I couldn't take in what I was seeing. What was beyond the force field was almost impossible for me to see and I   
knew that I never would.

Hurrying to them, I wrapped my arms around Lakhar's middle, ignoring the searing pain that focused on the middle of my head. I had to be strong. I wouldn't be a part of his journey anymore. I had to trust the Phyre was going to get him the rest of the way and that they would kill the last few Runners. I had to trust that Lakhar would be king.

He held me for a moment before leaning down and giving me a quick peck. 

"Stop worrying," he said softly. "Patch up Benji. See if he'll live." He stepped back and took my bat from me before shaking his head. "Take his cross bow. Keep this nearby if they get too close." He put the bat by my feet. "They will stop at nothing to cross the line into the castle, Evelyn. You're the only one that can stop them for me. They'll be brutal. You'll need to be brutal too."

My eyes began to well with tears and I clutched him tightly. I ignored the comment Phyre muttered, mainly because I couldn't understand it. Lakhar was leaving and I couldn't go with him. This was the first time he had done something that I couldn't do too. Hell, I had even been able to join him for the Run up until now. 

"I'm going to make it," he whispered before he leaned down and met my lips with a soft kiss. I wanted the kiss to last forever. I wanted him to pull away and decide that the Run was over for us and that we could just leave.

I watched as he backed away from me and I hugged myself, missing his touch already. He pulled out a polished stone, not unlike the ones from the store that we had passed and pressed it to his lips. He sucked it into his mouth and I watched him crush the rock with his teeth.

"This is how we get through the forcefields. It even protects against Selks," he smirked. "But that's not the only thing the rock does."

"What else does it do?" I asked softly, a little wary that he was being free with this information to me.

He didn't answer. Instead, he stepped back with Phyre. "I never told you why the Selks are so interested in you, Evelyn. Live long enough to see me in the end and I'll tell you everything that you want to know."

Phyre popped the other rock from the backpack into his mouth and I hurried over to the force field as I watched the two of them pass through, fighting the pain that exploded over my head.

And that was it. They were gone. All I could see of them was a whirl of colors that headed away from me. I reached forward, shoving my hand through the field that separated us and watched as my arm only bent unnaturally away from the field. 

A wave of pain sent itself through my head and I collapsed to my knees, clutching my head. My vision blinked out for a moment and I thought I had lost consciousness, but I remembered falling, hitting the ground. I remembered curling up into a fetal position, I remembered thinking about how vulnerable I had made myself in that moment and knew that I shouldn't try that again.

With them gone, I was the only person I could depend on to keep myself alive and I couldn't endanger myself like that again.


	14. Chapter 14

"Hey, he said to make sure I didn't die." 

I choked in surprise when I realized that I wasn't alone anymore. I turned my head to see Benji's head lulled over to look at me. He wasn't dead.

Shakily, I hurried over and got the first aid kit. I dried my eyes as I pulled out the can of Instant Healer. Half of it was left. I didn't know if it would be worth trying, it wouldn't be enough to cover the gaping hole that used to be his arm. I could always raid the other team's backpack. Surely, they had a first aid kit I could use. Benji probably had a first aid kit too.

"Don't use that stuff," he hissed. "They won't be able to give me back my arm if you heal the stump!"

I looked at the arm that laid several feet away from us and frowned. 

"Well, it's all I have and stopping the bleeding now is more important that saving the arm later," I muttered. "You're lucky you're alive at all. We've killed everyone else we've come across. You're the first person that Phyre didn't kill."

Benji leaned over and vomited. "Lakhar Mason, Patron Saint of the Spare." He used the back of his hand to wipe his mouth. "And I need the arm. I'm worthless without it. All of me or none of me," he said, coughing. He glanced back to me. "Illion is going to slaughter him and his traitor friend once they're through the gate."

I narrowed my eyes and sprayed on the Instant Healer. I found a small amount of enjoyment in the ragged scream he released. 

"Stupid bitch!" he shrieked. "I told you not to do that!" He attempted to roll out of the way of the spray but I moved to grab a handful of hair. He was weak and didn't put up too much of a fight as I emptied the rest of the can on the wounded arm.

I let him go when the can stopped spraying and tossed it aside. I didn't take the time to make sure that the Healer was working, instead, I went for his crossbow and my bat.

"We've killed three groups," I said, looking over the crossbow. I had never held one of these before and I had no idea how to use it. It had one arrow loaded, which was mostly useless to me considering that I didn't know how good of a shot I was with it nor knew how to reload it.

"How do you work this thing?" I asked, walking back over to him. I noticed the quiver lying close to him. Well, that was one less question I had to ask.

He scoffed. "I'm not telling my enemy how to use my weapon."

I grunted. "Then tell me how many groups you and our Runner killed."

Benji looked away from me, curling up in the street.

"Is there anything you'll tell me?" I asked.

"Go to hell!" he spat.

I rolled my eyes and stepped away, toying with the crossbow. "Well, we killed three and you've killed at least one," I muttered. "There are six possible Runners left. We know that your Runner is inside and so is mine, so that's the possibility of me having to stop up to four more teams." I paused, remembering what Lakhar had said. He felt other Selks in the castle. Teams of two. So, less than four. Less than three, probably. 

That meant here was a possibility that Reshmi was still alive. And Perla. My stomach sank at the thought that I may have to fight them. They weren't strangers. It would be hard.

I glanced up and spotted the dead bodies of Team Eight. Panora and Sibeal. Seeing them dead was rough despite not having known them. In fact, it almost made it worse. These beings were just bodies on the pavement. Revekah and her Runner were just lying in the forest. Joska, Paraskeve, the muscular Selk and the little girl he had been protecting. All of them were just bodies on the ground somewhere now. By the end of this, I could be just as dead and lost as they were. 

Putting down the crossbow, I slowly approached the closest body, the Assistant that had an arrow sticking out of her skull just to the right of her eye. 

I swallowed thickly, looking at congealing blood and saw the wide eye opened on the Selk's forehead. She had lived long enough after getting shot for it had to open or had it opened after she had died? These were details I didn't know but it made me wonder nonetheless.

The machete was close, it had been the thing to remove Benji's arm. I winced as I leaned over to pick it up. The reason that I hadn't picked one of these to begin with was the fact that I hadn't been sure if I would be able to pull it out of a body that I hit with it. That was still the case, but I didn't want to turn down any of the plethora of weapons that I had essentially been given. I wiped Benji's blood on Sibeal's pants.

Speaking of weapons, I glanced down to the gun that lay a few inches from the arm.

"Why did you use the gun?" I asked. "They were going to see the bullet holes in the bodies," I said, taking the machete and walking back to Benji. 

He didn't answer, content to ignore me.

"They're going to kill you no matter what happens now," I said. "Why did it matter whether or not I used the Instant Healer on your arm or not? Illion can't protect you. Lakhar can't protect you."

Again, no answer. 

After it was obvious that Benji wasn't going to answer any of my questions, I stepped several yards away from the gates and sucked my breath into my lungs. I wanted to get far enough away so that my headache lessened but not too far that someone could just slip past me.

Now, all I could do was wait. Whoever else was behind us would be with us soon. They needed to hurry and get inside. The Runners always headed inside the castle. It was part of the trail that they took.

"Do you think you're actually going to be able to stop more than one group of Selks by yourself?" Benji snorted.

I gritted my teeth. Now he decided to speak to me. It looked like the stopping blood loss had him feeling better.

"I've killed one already. A Runner," I said. "With just a bat. So, I think I might have a chance at stopping some of them before they kill me."

I didn't like that I had ended it with 'kill me'. I didn't plan to die today. I didn't plan to die when the Run was over. I didn't want to die as a result of this at all.

"One Selk," he snorted. "Good for you."

"At least I didn't get disabled during my fight," I muttered. "Just shut up and focus on not dying." I gripped the machete handle. "We're both human. I thought we'd get along better when we'd meet."

Benji let out a tart laugh. "Evelyn Reed. Significant other of the Runner of Seven. Excuse me, fiancee." He laid back on the asphalt, eyes focused on the clear, cloudless sky above him. "Illion is my best friend. He didn't know about the gun. I smuggled it into the Run. He has to win. He's... He's a human sympathizer. He wants to give more liberties to humans. He wants to... He's going to stop the human testing that they do."

I snorted. "Selks don't test on humans," I muttered. "They have no reason--"

"Wrong. You're so stupid."

I gritted my teeth. "Really? Then waste your breath and explain."

Benji was silent again for a long time before I heard him speak again. "My little sister, Tala," he said softly. "The Selk doctor took her away after she got sick. She..." He slammed his fist on the ground. "I don't know what they are, but she understood Selky. Just, one day, she understood the language. She had a fever after her class had received booster shot and we took her to a government Selk doctor. He said something in Selky to a nurse and my sister repeated it in English and before we knew it, he had taken her away. He claimed she needed urgent medical care."

He hoisted himself up and narrowed his eyes. "If they aren't experimenting on us, then how did she learn their language? She was a ten."

I didn't have an answer for him. I didn't know his situation. I hadn't been there. People don't magically pick up Selky. It doesn't happen, but I couldn't say that his sister was being experimented on either. You couldn't learn Selky after a booster shot. If it had been an experiment, they'd monitor their experiments closely. They weren't stupid.

"It doesn't work like that," I said softly. I pulled out a bottle of water and some of the food we had been given and offered it to him. When he didn't take it, I placed it beside him.

"What do you know?" he scoffed.

"If you listen to Lakhar, my mother was assassinated a few years ago," I said. "I was under the impression that she was just teaching Selk women to play card games to better emulate human culture, but one of the daughters told me yesterday that that's not what it was."

"What was she really doing?"

I shrugged. "The Runner's name was Revekah. She was an Assistant. She was murdered before I had a chance to ask her about it. Lakhar says the Selks made my mom sick and she died. That's what happened to my mother. Although, if a little girl could understand Selky, I guess that was a massive threat to them."

Benji grabbed the water and took a long drink. It was obvious that he was still in pain, but I didn't offer to take care of it, nor did he ask me to. 

"There's always going to be more about this then we're allowed to understand," I said softly. "We're never going to get the full story. They rule us. They own us."

Benji glared. "We out number them, but they can easily smash any rebellion that we try to bring up. Why do they even bother to keep us alive? What purpose do we serve? To stroke their egos? Why are they even here? We don't even know where they came from."

"We don't get to know those things," I muttered. "You sound pretty anti-Selk for someone who is assisting in a Run."

"I don't think there is a human stupid enough to truly be grateful to the race that enslaved us. Sure, there are a few that can't take off their rose-tinted glasses and there are a few Selks that realize what they're doing is wrong, but..." He looked at me. "Do you really think he's going to marry you, Evelyn? If he wins or loses, you're going to die. I'm going to die. Our families will die if they try to retaliate."

I shook my head. "I'm grateful to them. It seems like humans have forgotten what the planet was like before they came and healed it. The air was unbreathable in several parts of the world, crops were failing due to polluted soil. Wars were breaking out everywhere over resources. Pointless killing. They're keeping the peace. They terraformed the planet. It's livable again. They did do us a favor."

"You really are stupid," he growled.

I opened my mouth to fight with him when I saw a figure in the distance. I squinted to see which pair was making its way to the castle when I realized one carried another.

I grabbed my bat and gripped the machete, unsure of which would be better to use when I recognized the one of the figures.

Reshmi walked toward me, half-carrying his Runner. Esylit clung to Reshmi's side as they made their way down the street toward the gate. The Runner was bloody, limping, the wounds had no doubt been healed by Instant Healer to the best of their ability, but he still looked bad. His clothing was ripped and his right leg was tied up in bindings of some kind.

That was when I saw it. Esylit's shirt flapped open and I saw the huge amount of discoloration. Instant Healer doesn't work on internal wounds. He'd been bludgeoned. On the right of his ribs was a broken arrow lodged in his side. His chest was mostly purple. 

I clutched the hilt of the machete as they two of them approached. I felt cold. It wouldn't be hard to kill Esylit, but Reshmi wouldn't let it be easy.

"Evelyn!" Reshmi's voice called, chiming through the air.

"Hi, Reshmi," I said miserably. 

Reshmi stopped several feet before me. His eyes glanced down at the Selk bodies, scanned Benji's wounds before they settled on me. They looked both weary and wary. Did I look dangerous to him? The thought made me feel sick

"What happened to him?" I asked, not bothering to move closer. 

"We were attacked by... Amya and Perla," Esylit answered. His voice was high pitched and pained, his voice was rough and gruff, moreso than Lakhar's voice had been. He was dying.

"We both took a running start. We both started inside of the City, we converged on Thompson Street and they attacked," Reshmi muttered. "They didn't kill him on purpose. Amya and Esylit's family have a quarrel. She wanted him to struggle to the kingdom because she knew he would."

My brow furled. She let him live instead of killing him to make sure he wouldn't be a threat later? Why had they left Reshmi alive too? Besides a few cuts and bruises, he didn't look wounded at all.

"Will you just let us pass, Evelyn?" he asked. "He isn't much of a threat."

"No, but you are."

I glanced back to see Benji, eyes focused on Reshmi. 

"You're going to win it for him and once it's over, they're going to heal him. I've heard of that happening in Runs. It happened maybe fifty years ago in the Kingdom of Qua'Yan."

Reshmi squared his shoulders. He suddenly looked much taller than he had before, more threatening. 

"The Run is really no business of humans," he growled, narrowing his eyes on Benji. "Lakhar and Illion weakened themselves by choosing you two. You both don't have to die, but I will kill you if you don't move."

I inhaled deeply and held the machete in my hand. I had had Language Studies with Reshmi all through high school. We both worked in the Library on occasion. The thought that he was standing before me, ready to kill me if I didn't get out of his way was mind boggling.

"Don't be stupid, Evelyn, just move."

"I can't, I promised Lakhar I wouldn't."

Reshmi gave a nod of his head and lower Esylit down. I watched the broken Selk crumble to the ground where his Runner had placed him before his three staring eyes turned to me. Esylit muttered something in Selky to Reshmi who gave nod of understanding before turning his attention to me.

My heart was pounding in my chest. Reshmi me was tall and sleek. His weapon of choice had been a shield in the ceremony, but now he brandished his Runner's sword. 

I didn't know if I was going to be able to beat him.

"Last chance, Evelyn," he said, standing, feet apart. "Before Perla and Amya attacked, Esylit and I took down Meta and Ashling. I don't mind taking you down."

I pushed down the screaming urge to run away and to be a coward. I had sworn to Lakhar that I wouldn't let another threat pass through the gate. Reshmi was definitely a threat. 

Reshmi ran at me after a moment of silence. I only had a second to react, I attempted to dodge out of the way, but he shoved his right arm, the one carrying the shield, at me and knocked me back.  
I fell hard crying out as the back of my head hit the asphalt of street. The migraine shot through my head, the blow making my vision blurry. I took the second it took Reshmi to bring the sword back to roll out of the way. I scurried to my feet, realizing too late that my bat had rolled away from me. I cursed before I glanced up at Reshmi and saw him barreling at me again.

Ducking behind a nearby car, I watched him reach and bring the sword down on the hood. I jumped back when sparks flew up and fell again on my butt. I realized then that I was dizzy. The migraine was affecting more than just my vision, it was affecting my balance too.

Panic surged through me as I jumped to my feet. I was beginning to pant loudly as I saw Reshmi round after me. I ran around the trunk of the car and looked for something--anything--that I could use to give me the upper hand. I had to get him on the defensive and I didn't know how. 

"Use the gun, idiot!"

Benji's voice broke through the cloud of thoughts I was having. I vehemently shook my head as I ran from the car to another in the line of parked cars a bit farther back. Even if I wanted to use the gun, it was too far away for me to get. I wouldn't make it to the gun without Reshmi catching me first.

I knelt down behind a car for a moment, attempting to catch my breath when I noticed how close I was to Esylit. I could kill him now, but killing him would just enrage Reshmi and he'd redouble his efforts to kill me. 

But it was the only plan that my mind could focus on, and it meant that there would be one less Runner for Lakhar to worry about in the end. If there were not other Runners that could make it in, then I had finished my job.

I gripped the machete close and started toward the injured Selk. I struggled to keep my balance as I raised the blade to him and aimed for the bend of his neck. He saw me just before I could hit him and gave a loud chirping noise. 

I embedded the machete in his throat before I was again knocked from my feet.

A loud groan sounded from my throat as I rolled over. Reshmi stood in front of me. He glanced back at Esylit and knew that his shaking body was dying and there wasn't another chance to save him. He knew that he had failed in his mission to protect his Runner and that I had bested him. And he didn't seem very happy about any of it. 

Weaponless, I attempted to move away from him again, but pain immediately spread through my head and I was momentarily blinded by the sheer overwhelming pain. Reshmi used that time to grab me.   
My scream caught when Reshmi grabbed me around my throat. My hands flew to his, attempting to wrench his fingers off of my neck, to no avail. I gasped as he drug me, almost weightlessly toward the gate of the castle, my feet working as much as they could to support me as he jerked me along. 

"This really sucks, Evelyn," Reshmi grunted as he pulled me along with him. "I really hate that I have to do this." He tightened the grip and I began to feel lightheaded.. "Humans should know their place and get out of the way of Running Selks."

I wanted to choke that that wasn't true, but I couldn't get the words out of my mouth. The only sound I could muster was a labored gasp as he released his grip just a little so that I could breathe.

"Don't! Leave her alone!" Benji's voice cried. I glanced over a moment and saw him attempting to crawl for the gun, but Reshmi swept by and kicked it out of his reach.

The closer we got to the gate, the more my head began to hurt. I had no idea what Reshmi meant to do with me. How did he plan to kill me now? Was he still going on with his journey? His Runner was dead, what did he mean to do?

I choked when he shoved me against the force field. I could feel my body change with the wisps of movements that it made. 

"I'm going to kill Lakhar. I know he's in there and alone. I'm going to go end him."

Vaguely, I was thankful for Phyre, but that was the only thought I could muster. My head was so pained that I was surprised that I was still conscious. I didn't know how he planned to kill me, but if he didn't do it soon, I wouldn't be conscious for it.

Reshmi reached into his pocket and pulled a smooth, shiny black stone. I watched it move to his mouth and disappear behind his lips. A loud crunch sounded from beyond his lips.

"Let her go, Selk!" Benji screamed again. I felt a strange sense of happiness that he cared enough about my life to demand it be spared.

Reshmi ignored the pleas and walked through the force field, wrapping his arm around my throat, pulling me with him. Only, I didn't go with him. I could feel my windpipe getting crushed by the forced that Reshmi was exerting on my body, but more than that, I felt my head screaming. I shrieked right along with it, struggling against his arm, clawing at his arm. I was sure that the pain the force field was causing me had caused my head to literally split, that was what it had felt like, at least. 

My guess had been made true when I felt blood run down my forehead.

Darkness began to ebb around my sight and it became harder to breathe. I reached into my pocket and gripped the stone I had stolen from the shop. It wouldn't work, but it was the only thing that I could do now that hope to save my life.

I popped the stone into my mouth and managed to swallow it.


	15. Chapter 15

The next thing I saw was the gently moving of the force field. I grunted when I looked back and saw Reshmi on the ground several feet behind me. I groaned softly and sat up, realizing that the migraine was gone. Blood ran down my face. Wincing, I reached to touch my forehead, when my eyes widened. 

Another eye. 

Panic surged through me as I pulled myself to my feet and ran to the force field. I reached out and felt the hum of it against my hands. But I noticed now that the force field looked different. I could see through it. It was no longer blurry. I could see Benji staring at me, I could see the confused expression that spread over his features. Besides a little distortion, it was clear.

"Evelyn! Are you there?" Benji called.

I opened my mouth to answer when I saw Reshmi move. 

"You're one of the Monsters," Reshmi hissed. 

His words made me freeze. Monsters were legends. They didn't exist and I certainly wasn't one. My parents were both human. But I also had a large eye in the center of my forehead, so maybe I wasn't the best person to ask about my pedigree.

We were both weaponless at the moment, but that hadn't stopped Reshmi from trying to kill me a moment ago. 

Reshmi pulled himself to his feet slowly. I squared my feet on the ground in a desperate attempt to ready myself for whatever Reshmi had in mind.

But as he stood, I noticed something strange. Well, a few strange things. I could see his aura. I could feel the Selk bodies inside of the castle. I could feel the vague connection within the Kingdom. There was a strange sense of uncertainty that almost overwhelmed me.

"So, they were right to watch your family," Reshmi growled, gripping his hands at his side. "They were harboring a Monster all this time."

My mouth fell open and I tried to say something, anything, but nothing came out. My heart raced and I knew that I needed to find a way to defend myself because Reshmi wasn't going to wait much longer before he attacked me.

But there was nothing. The weapons were on the other side of the force field. I didn't know how it worked. I was close enough to run through it again and find a weapon, but Reshmi would follow me. I just had to be faster than he was.

I ran through the force field, feeling no disturbance as I did. I knew Reshmi was behind me, but I paid no mind. My bat had been dropped only a few yards away from the opening and if I could get to it, I could beat Reshmi down.

Reshmi yelled as he barreled toward me. I spotted the bat on he ground by the tire of the car that I had been chased around earlier. I dove for it, screaming out as I felt the asphalt rip at the skin of my right arm. I rolled away, bat in hand, just as Reshmi caught up to me. 

Leaping to my feet, I pulled back the bat and slammed it as hard as I could into the side of Reshmi's head. He fell against the car, reaching for the side of his face to touch the damage, shocked that I had hit him. I didn't take any time bringing the bat against him again. Over and over.

At some point, Reshmi managed to grab the bat, and jerked it from my hands. I stared in horror as his eyes met mine through the blood. He threw the bat aside and collapsed back against the car.   
I stood there frozen, debating whether or not to dive for the weapon, but Reshmi didn't move. He slumped over. He was unconscious. 

"What are you waiting for?" Benji called. 

I glanced over at him and saw Benji on his hand and knees. He looked like he was crawling toward the crossbow, the weapon closest to him.

"He's unconscious," I said. That was when I noticed the change in my voice. It wasn't the same. It had a... lyrical quality to it. Like I was humming my words instead of speaking them.

Benji noticed that too. Along with the eye on my forehead. He stilled and stared at me, and I felt a strange fear as trained his eyes on mine.

"You're a Monster," he whispered. He pushed himself back into a sitting position.

I didn't deny it. There was no way that I could be anything else.

He brow creased in anger.

"I told you!" he shouted. "I told you that they experiment on us! How else is that monstrosity on your forehead possible?"

I opened my mouth to tell him that I had never seen a Governmental Doctor. I had only ever been to seen my niche doctor. Dr. Ashford had been my doctor my entire life. Surely, a human doctor wasn't capable...

I walked toward Benji. Well, more correctly, I walked toward Benji's gun and kicked it toward him. My mind was racing at the moment, but I needed to leave. 

If I could go into the castle, I needed to. Lakhar knew I was a suspected Monster. That was why the Government was interested in me and why they killed my mother. Killing my mother wouldn't make me any less of what I was, but it would send a message to those that knew about me. They would need to keep it a secret. 

"Kill him," I said, as I walked over to the nearest Selk body, the Runner from Team Eight. I leaned down and fished the smooth stone from her pocket before I turned my attention back to Benji.

"I'm going into the castle," I said, picked up the bat. I glance back and walked over to Esylit's body and grabbed the handle of the machete. I gave it a hard jerk and freed it from his flesh. I gave a musical groan as I watched a stream of coagulated blood dripping off the long blade. I wince and gave it a hard shake before resorting to leaning down to clean the Selk blood off with the fallen Runner's shirt.

"They're going to kill you, Evelyn," Benji said. 

"I know," I whispered. I glanced back at him. He hadn't picked up the gun. "But I have to go help him. I promised that I would."

He shook his head. "We can get away now. You can get away. There are people out there who can help you. You can run. I can show you were they are. My plan was to go to the settlements outside of the kingdom."

"I promised that I'd help him. Besides, how long will I really be able to run? They would've caught Phyre by now if the Run hadn't happened."

Phyre's escape was still suspicious to me, but I didn't question it right now. Something was going on, a fact that didn't surprise me. What surprised me was how close to home these things were happening. Lakhar being chosen, reunion with Phyre, the fact I had been a Monster all of these years. Reveka's revelation and death. 

"Then you're sentencing me to die with you," Benji growled. 

I gave a shrug. "You brought a gun to the Run. You sentenced yourself to die." I started back toward the force field. "And who knows, maybe Lakhar is the Patron Saint of the Spare. You may survive this after all." I nodded back to Reshmi. "Kill him."

Benji glared at me before grabbing the gun. He pointed it at Reshmi and fired two rounds at him. Reshmi's body jolted and fell to the side.

I felt a shudder run through my body. I realized then that I had felt Reshmi die. It was just the sudden absence of feeling coming from him. It was a strange loneliness. I didn't like the strange sense of guilt that came with it. His aura was gone. It surprised me more that I felt more watching Benji kill someone than when I had killed them myself.

I didn't bother to look back at him. I knew he was dead. Instead, I focused more on the fact that Benji had the gun trained now on me.

"They'll only kill you after they experiment on you," he breathed. "They'll want to see how like them you are and then they'll get rid of you. Killing you now is a mercy."

"I have to go, Benji. I'll never get another chance to see the Castle."

"It stupid to risk your life for him now."

My reasoning sounded weak even to me. I could run and have a few more days of life in the woods. They were very dense. But then, I would learn nothing. Even if the eye on my forehead closed in a few days, I would be wanted. No one would be able to harbor me. No one would want to. Abandoning your Runner during the Run was a traitorous act. You either lived or you died, but you stayed.

I wouldn't be able to question Lakhar or my family if I left now. All these questions wouldn't be answered and I would be hunted down and killed without learning anything. With this, at least I had a chance at understanding something before I was killed. I would live a few more hours inside. He may not know anything, but I wanted to talk to him once more. I did love him, after all.

"This is the only way to find out information. If I run, I'll never get the truth."

He sighed and lowered the gun. "I'll see you after the Run. Maybe we'll be executed together."

I gave him a small smile and popped the rock into my mouth. 

This time, I took in the stone. I groaned softly as I realized that it had a powerfully Earthy taste and wasn't as smooth as its appearance had lead me to believe. I placed it on my back molars, hesitant to bite down. I didn't know how much of a Monster I was, how much Selk was inside of me. Could my teeth survive biting into a stone? It was still very hard. I didn't risk it. I again swallowed it whole. 

I reached through the permeable force field, watching where previously my perception bent my arm into impossible shapes and forced my brain to believe that I would never make it through. Now, the forcefield parted for me as if it were water, gently allowing me entrance to whatever lay beyond its protective barriers. 

I stepped through, feeling the force field wash over my skin. I looked back at the area I had just been, now able to really take it in.


End file.
